Believing
by Amegasuki
Summary: He was so alone and cold. He hid behind a mask of recklessness, but he knew what he was doing. He didn't mean to do the things he did. He just wanted to be accepted... the only way he knew how. DeixOC, my first fic, so... don't hate too much XD
1. Prologue

Prologue

The rain wouldn't stop. It kept pounding on the streets and the drains couldn't keep up. The village lights flickered on and off as I huddled in my jacket to stay warm. It didn't matter. The heat kept seeping out because of the rain. It pounded down harshly, soaking in deeply. I felt even worse than a drenched cat. No matter how much I prayed that the rain would stop, it just came down harder. The rain continued for hours as I sat shivering. It sounded like someone had just created a huge waterfall over the village. I knew no one had… hopefully. I huddled up in my jacket as much as I could, shivering violently. I might have had frostbite. I couldn't tell. I could have hypothermia. I wouldn't notice. All I felt was a numbing, nerve wracking cold that wouldn't end until I did. It was starting to get harder to breathe…

They say hell would be hot, burning with fires from the deepest abysses. I say, it was a dark, lonely, isolated place where rain and show never ended as you froze where you were; huddled in the cold, cloaked by darkness.

I stared up into the sky. The rain pelted my face like needles. The air coming out of my mouth no longer created a small puff of smoke. I wasn't warm enough on the inside… My vision began to darken around the edges, blurring out. I blinked and shook my head. It still didn't clear- it got worse. Was this it? Was this the end?

_I have no regrets…_ I thought as consciousness slithered away from my grasp.


	2. Acceptance

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto… or else it would've turned out like a ninja version of Code Geass. xD

Acceptance

::~~~~~~~~~~::

"Love is stronger than death- even though it can't stop death from happening- but no matter how hard death tries it can't separate people from love. It can't take away our memories either. In the end, life is stronger than death."

::~~~~~~~~~~::

"… be alright?" a murmur flowed through my head.

_A voice…_

"… think so. She should wake…" another murmur.

_Where… am I…?_

"… little miss? Please wake up now."

_Little… miss? Who…_

"Little miss, you need to wake up now." The voice became clearer.

_Me?_ I struggled to wake up, to answer the voices that kept pestering me. My peaceful rest was being taken away. All I wanted to do was sleep now that I was finally dry and warm… I forced my eyes open and stared up at the white ceiling in a daze. I felt the crisp, warm sheets tucked firmly around my body, trapping in all the delicious warmth. I took in a deep breath, the smell of stale, comforting, _safe_ air filling my nostrils.

"Ah, little miss, you're finally awake".

I turned my head towards the voice. A woman with brown eyes and brown hair eyed me with concern. Her hair fell down to her shoulder blades. A doctor's coat was slung across her shoulders. Pale skin poked out from the dark clothes she wore under the white coat. I frowned. Heaven did NOT have doctors, and the ones in hell were certainly not concerned about my wellbeing, which could only mean that…

"How did I get here?" I croaked out. I cleared my throat, which ached slightly from disuse.

"A young man found you in the forest… You very nearly died. What were you doing all the way up there?" The woman scolded me. "You're way too young to be in a forest all alone at night!"

I turned away from her. Memories of what happened poured into my mind like a wave. Things that I didn't want to remember floated to the surface…

::~~~~~~~~~~::

"Mom, I'm home!" I slid the door closed behind me and slipped my sandals off.

The Academy was always so boring. The same lesson was taught over and over as if we couldn't comprehend what anyone was trying to teach us. It took me a day to master the clone jutsu, but they still had us going over it for a week. It wasn't as if this was some huge, all important jutsu or anything. It was basic even for basics. What surprised me the most wasn't the fact that they had repeated the lesson over and over. It was the fact that the other kids in the class _needed_ them to go over the lesson multiple times that shocked me. Was the new generation of future ninja so pathetic that we needed to go over the simplest basics for weeks at a time? It seemed as though the more years past, the lazier and more pathetic the people in the academies became.

_I hope it's not like this everywhere… _I thought shaking my head slightly.

"Mom?" I called out again, moving towards the sound of clanging pans in the kitchen.

I peeked in and had to struggle to hold in a laugh. Mom had apparently knocked over the bowl of beated eggs and slipped on it, getting coated with egg yolks. On her head was a pile of uncooked rice. It looked slightly odd against her vibrant crimson hair, so much like mine that it made even more laughter bubble up inside of me. Scattered around her were various pots, pans and vegetables. It looked like she was using herself as a heat source to make dinner. She glanced up at me, her face turning slightly red as she saw the twinkle of laughter in my eyes. Her green eyes darkened slightly as she turned her head away. I carefully navigated my way over to her, avoiding all of the pots and pans that littered the floor. On my way I picked up many of the vegetables that had strayed too far away from her reach. She took the vegetables from me and set them onto the counter and began to collect all the pots and pans.

"I can't believe I did this", she said, thoroughly embarrassed.

"Maybe you're just having an off day. Did something happen at the doctor's today?" I asked lightly as I went to the sink to wet a rag.

She froze when reaching towards a pot, but didn't reply. I didn't pressure her for an answer. Instead, I began to clean the floor, pretending I didn't notice her slip up. After a while, she continued what she was doing as well. Glancing over, my eyes widened in surprise at the small smile that adorned her face.

"Amaya, you're going to be an older sister."

"Wha-"I started, abruptly turning to face her. I moved too fast, though. The rag splashed water and soap suds at mom. Not that she could look any worse than she did.

"Hey, watch where you're swinging that thing", she protested, wiping some of the soapy suds off of her cheek.

"I'm sorry…"

Mom looked at me with a smile and pulled me into her arms. She coated me in the egg/soap/water/rice mixture she was covered in. I frowned up at her, noticing the wicked glimmer in her eyes. I tried to pull away, but she rubbed even more of the mixture on me, thoroughly coating me with her. Sighing, I admitted defeat and sat obediently in her lap. Her arms wrapped around me and again I noticed the scars from her previous line of work.

Mom had been in the ANBU. She was the best of the best, handling the most difficult missions that even the Hokage would have trouble completing and coming back alive. She knew what she was doing, and was proud of every mission she successfully completed that protected her homeland. Then she ended up on a mission to track down, capture, and interrogate a missing nin. He was wanted for being associated with Orochimaru- and the Akatsuki. His name was Takahashi Hisako.

Mom ended up falling for him and getting him to become part of the ANBU for Konohagakure. It took a lot of hard work, time and persuasiveness on their part but the fourth Hokage finally agreed to it. Mostly because… Mom had gotten pregnant- with me.

They had met in Amegakure, the Village hidden in the Rain. They also endured a lot together when they fought to be with one another. They named me Amaya Hisako, which means "Enduring Heavy Rain". It tells the story of how they ended up together. I've always been proud of my name because of that…

"Hey, Mom…? What are you going to name her?" I asked, rubbing her stomach gently.

"Her?"

"Yeah, I'm sure the baby's a girl. So what are you going to name her?" I repeated my question.

Mom rubbed my back in soothing circles as she mulled it over. Then I realized something about Dad and I laughed lightly.

"What's so funny?"

"Dad has a female surname!" I giggled again.

Mom laughed along with me and that's when Dad entered the house. We listened to his footsteps as he stepped in to look into the kitchen. We laughed at his shocked expression. Here we were, covered in dinner, and hugging each other with glowing faces. It would shock anyone that saw us. Dad shook his head and chuckled a bit, his dark hair falling into his amber eyes. They were filled with mirth.

"So I guess dinner is on you guys then…?" he chortled.

Mom and I shared a look before turning back to Dad. A smirk painted itself across my face. When Dad finally stopped laughing enough to get a look at us, he gulped and became wary. We stood up and walked towards him slowly in a menacing manner. In my hands was an egg that had survived the fall to the ground. In my mom's hand was a handful of rice. We threw both at him, and laughed as the yolk trickled down his face and into his mouth. Bits of rice were stuck to the egg, making him look as if he had been covered with scales on his face.

"There, now you look as ridiculous as we do", I said, giggling as he pouted.

"Thanks for sharing the love", he mumbled.

"Hey… about my little sister… I think we should name her Chiyoko."

"Chiyoko? Chiyoko Hisako?" Mom asked.

"Yeah…"

"Enduring a thousand generations… Huh." Dad mused.

"I like it. Chiyoko Hisako, grow up strong and healthy, okay?" Mom told the growing child within her.

"Me too-"

**CRASH!**

** BANG!**

_**SLICE**_

** THUD!**

I watched in muted horror as a man busted through the kitchen window. The intruder glanced at me, meeting my shocked gaze. He was covered in black completely except for his eyes and hands. They were a sickening yellow, and strangely looked as if there were slits instead of pupils… His skin was extremely pale… He quickly turned away from me and lashed out at Dad with a katana that he pulled from his back. Dad's neck spurted out a crimson river all over the floor. I gasped. His life was pouring out…

"Takahashi! No!" I heard mom's agonized scream as she lurched towards him.

"There's nothing more you can do…" the words came out of my throat without my consent.

Mom ignored me and continued moving towards the body- Dad- but was stopped when the murderer's foot came down in front of her, blocking her from the body. She looked up at him and gasped when she met his gaze. Tears began to pour out of her and run down her cheeks. She took in many breaths, looking as if she was trying to say something, but she couldn't get the words out. Finally, she was able to speak.

"O-Orochimaru…" she whispered brokenly.

_Orochimaru…? _I stared up at him, confused. How could one name break the spirit of one of Konoha's most fearless kunoichi? As I watched him, his eyes twinkled as if he were smirking.

"Well, if it isn't miss Sawako. How have you been my dear? Any pain…?"

She reached up to her shoulder. It looked as if the motion was reflexive, a reaction to his words. She shook her head and glanced at me fearfully. She mouthed words at me, but I couldn't understand them.

_Run away? Why would I run away if my mom was still here? My little sister's in danger, too…_ It made no sense to me. I couldn't understand it; therefore I didn't act on what she said.

::~~~~~~~~~~~::

_I wish I ran away when she told me to…_ I thought, regret pounding in my chest. I clutched at it, thinking it would burst out if I wasn't too careful. After all I had seen in the last year, that seemed really likely to me. After all, how many people can say they had Orochimaru pop up in their house and kill everyone but themselves and had to wander in the forest alone for a year to survive? Not many. _Now that I think about it… It must have been sheer luck that I survived in the forest for a whole year_, I mused.

"Miss?" I was startled out of my thoughts and musings.

"Ah, I'm sorry. I was just… remembering some things. What was it you asked me?"

She sighed. "Honestly… I asked what you were doing all alone in the forest?"

"Oh… I… um… I live there. Well, for the past year I have, anyway. My parents were murdered in our home and I was too scared to go to the village alone, considering that a person that was from the village killed them. And my baby sister- my mom was pregnant," I explained detachedly.

She looked at me in horror. "Wha- someone from our village…?"

"He was. His name is Orochimaru. Who is he anyway?"

"Oh… Oh dear." She turned and put a hand to her mouth.

"Miss…?"

She went into the hall and called out to one of the nurses walking by. She told them to go get the Hokage and bring him here immediately. I didn't understand. _The Hokage is coming here? Who IS Orochimaru?_ I stared at the woman in confusion as she came back over and tucked me in again. She didn't say a word, and her face was filled with fear. _From just one name…?_

"When he gets here, you'll have to tell the Hokage every single thing that happened in the whole year you were out in that forest that has to deal with Orochimaru. Do you understand?"

"Yes, but-"

"I have to go. I'll be back. Press that button," she pointed at the white button to my right, "if you need anything."

"But-" She walked out, shutting the door behind her with a small _click_.

_What in the world is going on here? Mom… Dad… I'm scared…_ _Why did you have to get taken away?_

::~~~~~~~~~~~::

"Oh? What's this? You have a daughter?" he walked over to me and stared at me appraisingly.

I eyed him warily. I didn't like the way he was looking at me. I still couldn't process the fact that he just killed my dad. My mind couldn't comprehend it. That wasn't my dad over there on the floor soaking in blood. That was just a body. I was startled out of my thoughts when the man reached out and touched my cheek. I shivered. His hands were cold and felt weird. As if they were snakes… He brushed my hair out of my eyes. He lingered in my hair for a bit before reluctantly pulling back.

"She's a gorgeous little girl. What's her name?" he turned his attention to Mom, still hovering over me.

Mom stared at me in agony and fear. It seemed as though she didn't hear a word he just said. Or she was just choosing not to answer. _But that's… silly. There's no reason to do that. Sure, he's creepy… But it's not like we can't escape from him._ He walked over to her and slapped her across the face. She gasped, and I felt the pain as if he had slapped me instead.

"I'm speaking to you, young lady. I suggest you answer-"

"Amaya Hisako."

He turned to me, his eyebrow raised. I clarified.

"You wanted to know my name. It's Amaya Hisako."

He nodded in acknowledgement and then turned back to Mom, who had sprawled out on the floor and was cradling her stomach and tenderly pressing her hand to her cheek. She glanced at him with pure hatred and fear.

"How old is she?"

I knew mom wasn't going to answer and I wasn't surprised when she got slapped across the face again. I winced, and quickly became angered.

"I can talk for myself. Let her mourn over the body… Dad," I amended when she looked at me with a weird face.

"Very well, then. You have a fine daughter- she knows how to respect people. Maybe you could learn a thing or two?" He told my mom. It was clearly a warning.

He walked over to me and revealed his face. His skin was deathly pale. Around his eyes were purple and blue shadows- _Make up?_ I wondered- and then his long, silky black hair fell into his face. It was even more beautiful than Dad's. It framed his face and went down past his shoulder blades. I eyed it enviously. It was even shinier than mine. He had nice facial structure, a strong jaw and high cheekbones. He was a little on the skinny side, but it could have been worse for a creepy murdering guy.

"How old are you?" he asked me instead of Mom.

"… Ten." I answered still staring at his hair.

"And how good are you in the academy?"

"Ah… I'm always tied with the Uchiha. We have the highest marks." This seemed to pique his interest.

"Oh? Are you close to the Uchiha?"

"Um… Not really. He keeps to himself and I don't want to bother him. I gain nothing from it." I answered distractedly. _I wonder what kind of products he uses…?_

"What are you staring at?" he noticed my distracted gaze.

"Hmm…? Oh, I'm staring at your hair."

"… My hair…?" he prodded.

"Huh? Yeah, it's really pretty." I was so distracted I didn't even notice what came out of my mouth. All I noticed was that all of a sudden he started laughing. It wasn't a really creepy laugh or anything. It was actually kind of… nice.

"…What?" I asked as he began to calm down.

"My dear Amaya, do you know who I am?" he asked me, mirth filling his eyes.

"No, but you're going to tell me."

"Oh? Aren't you the arrogant one?"

"No, it's because your ego is so big that you'll get a kick out of scaring me." He snorted at that.

"That may be the case, but my ego is only as strong as my power is. My name is Orochimaru. I am one of the Legendary Sannin. I have left Konoha… and formed the Sound Village. I am also… immortal." A vague recollection of him came from some memories of class lessons.

"Oh. So you experiment on people, kill people, and take children away from their families-"I broke off, my eyes widening.

A small smirk adorned his face. Standing up, I moved away from him slightly and he tilted his head, his hair swishing with the movement. If it wasn't for the hair… I wouldn't have stopped. If only he was bald! He knew I wanted his hair… and used it against me! I began to feel angry again.

"What do you want?" I snapped, irritated.

He motioned for me to come closer, and I did. I glanced towards Mom and saw that she was moving slowly towards a huge, sharp butcher knife that had fallen to the ground when she was cooking. I moved my gaze slowly back to Orochimaru, not wanting to alarm him, but not wanting him to quickly look back because I quickly turned to him. That's a mistake many people make. It ends up getting them killed. Even Sasuke did that sometimes. _And to think we're tied_…

"I want… you to come with me. To the Sound village", he said.

Mom had gotten the knife in her hand and was slowly moving back to where she was before- close enough to stab him and stay out of reach. I saw this in my peripheral vision; I didn't move my eyes at all towards her. Instead, I moved them to the opposite side of the room- towards a katana. I faked like I was going to go get it and suddenly a tongue lashed out and pulled me back to Orochimaru. I gasped as my back was pressed snuggly into his chest.

"H-hey! Let me go!" I pressed against his… tongue. "Why can't you use your arms like a normal person!"

"Why? That's no fun," he said with his tongue still wrapped around me. "But if you insist…"

He pulled his tongue away from me and wrapped his arms around me to hold me in place. He started to move forward and I heard movement come from behind us. Suddenly, we were behind my mom, watching as she stabbed at the air. My eyes widened in shock. How did he move so fast?

"Well, that's not very nice, Sawako. That's what people call back stabbing. Right, Amaya?"

"… I guess…"

'RUN', I mouthed at my mom but she shook her head. I tried again. 'My little sister! Get her out of here! You have to leave too!' Tears welled up in her eyes and she wavered in place. She was hesitating. _No! She has to go, if she hesitates-_ Orochimaru finished my thought allowed.

"She'll die." His tongue quickly wrapped itself around the katana I had been staring at and stabbed her through the stomach.

"MOM! CHIYOKO!" I screeched as her body fell to the ground on top of Dad's.

Blood seeped from her stomach… and yellow liquid. It was like an egg had been cracked open on the floor. I gagged as I realized it was my sister. My sister's life was draining out of her… He had stabbed right through her…

"My baby… Chiyoko… Amaya…" Mom sobbed softly.

Her hand feebly went to cradle her stomach but went limp before she could reach. Her head lolled to the side and her eyes rolled back in her skull. It was as if… she was watching her life from the inside. I gagged again. Nothing came up. I hadn't eaten anything the entire day…

"That was such a shame. There could have been another I could have brought with me… Oh well," Orochimaru said, holding me closer.

"Let go of me," I sobbed.

"Why in the world would I do that? Now, let's go…" he turned to walk out the door, stepping over my parent's- and my sister's- bodies.

"Let go of me."

"I don't think so, my dear." We had just entered the forest.

"Let GO of me." I repeated, anger bleeding into my voice.

"You're starting to get annoying. I guess I'll have to put you to sleep-"

"LET GO OF ME!" I violently smashed my head against his chest and beat him as hard as I could, chakra pouring off of me in waves.

He grunted and let go, leaping back away from me. I took off in the opposite direction, putting chakra into the soles of my feet to push me off even faster. I attempted to mask my presence, but I was far too emotional to get a hold of my chakra. It seeped through my skin, lapping lazily at the air around me. I continued to move faster and faster. I listened out for the snap of a twig from behind or beside me. I tried to feel for his presence, but my own was so imposing that I couldn't feel anyone else's. I gritted my teeth and pushed myself farther forward.

"Very well then, Amaya- I shall wait for you to come to me…" the voice echoed ominously throughout the trees.

I continued to move farther away in case he decided to change his mind. I wouldn't become a pawn for some man who murdered my parents and my unborn little sister.

"Chiyoko… I'll carry you within me forever. You didn't go anywhere," I whispered.

I stopped when it got too dark for me to see what part of the tree I had crashed into. Sighing, I leaned back and stared up at the sky. The stars glittered invitingly. Two I had never noticed before were shining very brightly tonight. _It must be… _I thought, agony piercing me in my heart.

"Mom and Dad..." I searched for Chiyoko, but I didn't see her.

"Then… she must be-"I had started excitedly but tears welled up as a star glittered brightly in between Mom and Dad's.

"Why me…?" I sobbed, putting my head in my hands and curling up.

My whole family was wrenched from me within a matter of minutes. Dad… Chiyoko… Mom… they were all gone. Death had claimed them. Their guide had been Orochimaru. I clenched my fist as pain lanced through my chest. I would avenge them. I would defeat Orochimaru and put an end to all the families he had torn apart like mine.

_Don't worry, Mom, Dad, Chiyoko. I'll be fine. I promise. I accepted your deaths… Now you must accept my vengeance._


	3. Animosity

Disclaimer: Has Itachi gone and slapped Sasuke across the face for not making all the fan-girl moments cease? Has Haku spontaneously popped up out of nowhere and became a Ninja of the Hidden Leaf Village and started dating Hinata? No? Then I don't own Naruto.

Animosity

::~~~~~~~~~~~~::

"The important thing is not the finding, it is the seeking, it is the devotion with which one spins the wheel of prayer and scripture, discovering the truth little by little. If this machine gave you the truth immediately, you would not recognize it." –Ursula K. LeGuin

::~~~~~~~~~~~~::

A knock at the door brought me out of my memories. Shaking my head, I took in a deep breath and sat up, leaning against the headboard. My eyes closed as I pulled myself together and detached myself from the issue that was going to be brought up. I couldn't start crying in front of people I don't know. Who knows if they would take advantage of me or not?

"Come in," I said coolly, opening my eyes.

The door opened and the nurse that had been with me before walked in, a tall shadow behind her. Her face was set in a determined, concerned mask. My eyes narrowed at her. _What's going on…?_

"The Hokage is here to see you miss…" she trailed off, her eyes widening as she realized she never got my name.

"Amaya," I told her gently, not wanting her to feel embarrassed or get in trouble.

She shot me a dirty look and I frowned. I didn't do anything wrong… did I? _I just said my name…_ I thought, confused. Irritation welled up inside of me. She had no right to glare at me when I didn't do anything wrong. If this was how I would be treated in a hospital, then I was right to stay in the forest the whole year. This nurse was the worst.

"Are you going to stand there shooting dirty looks at me for no reason or are you going to move and let the Hokage in?" I said coldly, staring her down.

She flushed and moved to the side, her head bowed. I kept my eyes on her for a moment longer before turning to the man that had followed her in. _Maybe now she'll stop acting like she owns the place and I'm an unwanted intruder._

"So, what do you want me to tell you?" I immediately got to the point.

I refused to beat around the bush. It produced no results for me unless I was on a mission for information. In this case, that was the other way around, so I saw no point in it. I then registered his appearance. He was in a white robe that went down to the floor. On his head was the large hat that was standard for all the Hokage of the Leaf Village. On it was the kanji character Aki, meaning fall. It also stood for fire, which was how the Will of Fire came about. Not that I really understood what the Will of Fire was in the first place. The hat was red and white… in fact, he was only in red and white. I guess that was just something that the Hokage did. He was an older man, with weathered, wrinkled skin and wise black eyes. He had a beard of grey that stuck out like an onigiri, except pointed at the end.

"Aren't you quick to get to the point?" he asked, pulling out a cork pipe and putting it in his mouth.

"Aren't you here to ask me what happened?" I retorted.

He snorted and walked farther into the room, keeping his eyes on me. As soon as he was close enough to touch me, he turned and instead looked out the window. I didn't know what he could see, but whatever he saw made him sigh and shake his head. When he turned back to me, there was a touch of amusement in his eyes.

"Do you want to tell me what happened?" he asked me.

"I have a choice in the matter?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You always have a choice, Amaya."

"Well then… I'll tell you what happened when you ask me what happened. Please stop beating around the bush; you wouldn't have come to see me unless there was something you wanted."

With that, I turned away from him and rolled onto my side, lying back down. I heard an outraged gasp come from near the door. The nurse was still here- and she was still being outrageously inconsiderate. She had pushed my limits too far.

"The little brat…" she muttered.

That did it. Sitting back up, I turned to look at her darkly. She met my gaze steadily and smirked, realizing that I heard what she said. Her eyes were challenging me to do something about it. My own narrowed at her and I slid out of under the sheets, walking towards her. She was still so smug about it, not moving an inch from where she stood. To add to her smugness, she folded her arms across her chest. She was still looking smug when I punched her in the face. I felt her cartilage crush under my knuckles and felt satisfaction when her nose began to bleed profusely. A broken nose would satisfy my bloodlust for now. She flew backwards and smacked against the wall with a strangled gasp. Tears began to pour down her cheeks as she clutched at her nose.

"You broke it!" _Of course I did, you stupid woman. To think that you're smart enough to be a nurse when you take forever to realize that your nose is broken… it astounds me._

"Duh," I said, turning my back on her to go back into bed.

The whole entire time this happened, the Hokage was looking out the window, not paying us any attention. I managed to get in bed in the exact same position before he began to pay attention to what was going on in the room. He heard the sobbing woman and turned to her. I heard his footsteps as he walked over to her to see what was wrong.

"Your nose is broken? How did this happen?" he asked her.

"That brat punched me in the face!" she wailed.

I smirked. _Served you right, you hag…_

"Don't blame an innocent child, Kaiya. She did nothing wrong- she's been sleeping the whole entire time," the Hokage scolded her.

My eyes widened in disbelief. This village was full of stupid people! The Hokage couldn't even tell what happened when he was in the same room! I opened my mouth to say how stupid they were, but I closed it when I realized that saying something could get me in trouble. Not that I really wanted to stay in the village or anything, but how could I track down Orochimaru if I couldn't even stay in the village he was from? _It's best to leave the idiots alone… _I thought.

"But- she just-"

"I don't know what's gotten into you, Kaiya. Get a hold of yourself," he said, walking back towards me. "Maybe it's time for you to find another career… being a medic doesn't seem to be working for you."

I froze and Kaiya took in a startled gasp. She was going to get fired because of me? Not that I liked her or anything, but she shouldn't get fired just because she blamed me for punching her in the face and breaking her nose (even though it's true).I sat up and turned to look at the Hokage.

"Are you an idiot? Don't fire someone like that. You need as many medics as you can get. She's not THAT bad." I turned, lying face down on the bed.

"And I did punch her. Served her right, too," I added.

The Hokage stood in silence next to me. I waited for him to begin yelling at me or to walk out of the room without a word. He did neither. Instead, he chuckled, causing me to frown. _What's so funny?_

"I know you did it, and I'm not going to fire you. This was all set up to see what kind of person you were- someone who let another fall for something that they caused or someone who spoke up about what truly happened. You passed, Amaya," the Hokage told me.

I sat up, glancing between the Hokage and Kaiya, who was healing her nose with her chakra. Her hand glowed green, and I watched in awe as her cartilage repaired itself, joining back together in its proper place. She stood up and gave me a warm smile. I became even more incredulous.

"Amaya Hisako, welcome to the Leaf Village," she told me with a bright smile.

"Alright, class. You all remember Amaya Hisako, right?" Iruka-sensei asked the class.

I stood next to him, resisting the urge to roll my eyes. There was no need to introduce me to a class I was already in. Just because I was gone for a year doesn't mean that everyone would forget me. Most of them, yes. But all of them? _Their memories aren't that bad._ Two thirds of the class shook their heads. One girl with long pink hair immediately raised her hand.

"She's the one who used to always get the highest marks- next to Sasuke-kun, of course." She had started out smug but quickly turned into a puddle of mush at the end.

I snorted. "Just because I wasn't here for a year doesn't mean I won't crush the 'competition' into dust. You better start studying, Sakura Haruno," I replied coldly, closing my eyes in boredom. "Especially if you turn into a pile of mush whenever someone mentions Sasuke."

She gasped and glared at me. "Don't talk so familiarly with Sasuke-kun!" she shouted at me.

"Don't waste my time by holding up Iruka-sensei's useless introduction just so you can try to stake a claim with Sasuke. He doesn't like you. He's not interested in you. You're annoying him. And you're starting to annoy me. Go do something useful instead of fawning over someone who doesn't want your attention," I stated, watching as waves anger and hurt began to pour off of her.

"Well, since my introduction is so 'useless', why don't you do it?" Iruka-sensei told me, leaning back.

I sighed. "This is a waste of time," I muttered under my breath. "My name is Amaya Hisako. I'm not interested in anything but training and getting high marks. Don't get on my nerves." I walked past all of the faces staring at me in shock and awe (and a few angry glares) and sat where I had sat when I was here earlier- to the left of Sasuke, right next to the window. Sasuke stared at me with onyx eyes, his emotions unreadable. His hair was slightly longer than the last time I saw him, with the parted bangs that went to mid cheek and the spiky back. It had more of a blue tint in it, too. It made his skin look less pale than it used to. Walking past him I slid into the seat next to him. I leaned backwards and stared out the window, wondering if Iruka-sensei had taught anything that I would have to learn on my own.

"W-well then, today we'll be practicing using shuriken. Amaya, you can go first since you'll need me to guide you," Iruka-sensei told the class.

Sakura smirked and flicked her hair back. "I can help you if you beg, Amaya," she said snottily.

"There's no need. You're help is insufficient," I replied, still staring out the window.

"Why, you-!" Sakura growled.

"Everyone, outside!" Iruka-sensei said before things could get any more out of hand than they already were.

I stood up and walked out, standing next to the target we were going to practice on. It would be too easy to hit all those targets. A piece of cake, really. _Is this all they did in the year that I was gone? What kind of academy is this? _I thought.

"Alright, Amaya, go ahead and hit as many targets as you can," Iruka-sensei said, handing me a handful of shuriken.

I sighed and walked a good fifty feet away. The kids in the class began to whisper to each other in low murmurs, snickering about how there was no way I'd be able to make any of the targets from a point so far away. Iruka-sensei shook his head, as if agreeing with the kids from the class. This made me like him even less. He should put more faith into his students- then I realized that they were doing something so simple over the whole year that I had been gone. No, his lack of faith in me was to be expected with all the students he had. The poor man probably had to go through so much trying to get the class to even pay attention.

I lined up the targets with a critical eye for a moment before quickly sending the shuriken towards the target. They shot forth, moving so fast they went unseen by the kids in the class.

**THUD**

Every single target had a shuriken in them, and each was a bulls-eye mark. Gasps sounded around me. I straightened out of my position and walked forward slowly, heading back into the classroom. Iruka-sensei gaped at me.

"H-how did you- at such a young age- missing a whole year- even Itachi couldn't-" he stuttered, trying to find the words to get an answer that would satisfy the shock that he had just went through and put it at ease.

I shrugged. "While you guys went over the same things week after week, I learned- and mastered- something new every day," I answered, looking him straight in the eye. I smirked. "Think I need your 'guidance' now?"

He shook his head, not commenting at all and turned numbly back to the class. Glancing back at the kids that were still in an uproar from the so called 'amazing' thing I had done just now, my gaze met Sasuke's. He was staring at me with narrowed eyes. They were calculating and cold. _I wonder if mine look like that…? _It was a horrifying thought. To think that I would have eyes that were so uncaring about the world around me… I needed to work on that. _Maybe I should start caring about things other than training…?_

My gaze landed on a particularly loud boy in a grey jacket. A dog peeked out of the top of the jacket and barked at me. I tilted my head at it and smiled. The dog jumped out at ran over to me, still barking. I bent down and offered him my hand. He had white fur and black ears. He was tiny- he could fit into my arms like a baby. He sniffed the appendage that was in his face and then licked my fingers. I laughed- it really tickled. I picked him up and scratched behind his ear adoringly. _He's so cute!_ I thought, smiling as he licked my face.

"Akamaru! Don't just go up to random people!" the owner of the dog said, coming up to me.

Akamaru whined and put a paw to my face, pleading with me.

"… … so cute…" I mumbled, burying my face into his fur.

He yipped happily and buried deeper into my arms. I glanced up at the boy standing next to me. His face was… fierce. He had two red streaks coming down from his eyes, which were dark and playful. His skin was dark, too, for someone who lived in the Leaf Village. His hair was brown and silky. He met my gaze and smiled, a set of fangs gleaming.

"Hey there," he said. "Sorry about Akamaru. He seems to like you a lot though."

"Ah, it's okay. He's really cute," I said, lifting my head to look down at said dog.

He barked at me and licked my cheek. I laughed again.

"It's nice to know that you aren't another Sasuke," Kiba commented.

I looked up at him, frowning slightly. "What do you mean?"

"Well, he's kinda stuck up and he never talks to anyone. He just sits there and trains. He's kinda… creepy," he explained, reaching for Akamaru.

"Oh… well, it's kind of hard to get close to people again knowing that they can be taken away from you," I murmured.

Akamaru whimpered and licked my face again before he was pulled away by Kiba. He struggled a little bit in protest but I smiled at him and he settled down. I giggled when he attempted to smile back, his tongue hanging out. He snuggled into the warmth of Kiba's jacket and stuck his head out. It was adorable.

"Have you had people taken away from you?"

I looked towards Sasuke as I answered him.

"Yes."

"Alright, don't forget to practice using the shuriken! Class dismissed!" Iruka-sensei said.

I had watched all of the kids use the shuriken. Only Sasuke had been able to hit all of them and have a perfect bulls-eye. Most of the other kids barely hit two of the targets. It really made me think that the academy was a waste of time. _I got a lot farther in one year in the forest than these kids would being here for three years_, I thought. It was sickening.

I stood up and started for the door when someone caught my arm. Turning, I was greeted by Kiba's smiling face. I smiled back in greeting.

"Wanna walk home together? You head out towards the back of the village, right?" he asked me.

I started to say sure but then realized something that hadn't been told to me. I didn't know where I lived. The Hokage certainly wasn't going to let me live out in the forest or my old home. I didn't have enough money to stay at the inn… I mean, I was only eleven. There was no place for me to go…

"Actually… I'm homeless," I said softly.

Kiba started at me in shock, still holding onto my arm. "What? How could you be homeless?" he shouted.

The whole class turned to look at me, shocked. Then they began to talk amongst themselves, snickering and giving me looks of pity. The snickering I could handle, but the pity… Why pity someone when it doesn't solve anything? It certainly doesn't make anyone feel any better.

"Thanks for announcing it to the whole class, Kiba," I muttered dryly.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" he glared at all the people snickering at me. "What are you looking at?" he snapped.

"Kiba, the people laughing aren't bothering me. It's the other ones… anyway, I'll just stay in the hospital or something-"I started when a voice cut me off.

"You can stay at my place."

Everyone's head turned to stare at Sasuke. His dark eyes weren't calculating this time. They were just… unreadable. His hands were in his pocket and he was leaning casually against the table next to me.

"Why would she stay at your place? It's really empty! Amaya, you can come with me," Kiba told me, and Akamaru barked in agreement.

"No… It's okay. I don't want to trouble you guys. I'll stay in the hospital," I said, turning them both down.

"But-"Kiba and Sasuke started but I cut them off.

"Just let me, okay? If I decide I don't want to stay there anymore, I'll let you guys know," I told them. I turned to Sasuke. "Why do you want me to come live with you, anyway?"

"… No reason. It's just convenient for everyone that way and you won't get in trouble with the nurses at the hospital," he explained.

I had forgotten about the nurses. Although Kaiya accepted me and was putting on a charade when she was helping the Hokage test me, the other nurses really didn't like me. Everywhere I went there was a glare following my every move. Some of them even bumped into me on purpose, pushing me around. It confused me… and scared me. One time a nurse had come into my room during the night and was about to give me a shot of some foreign medicine- or poison- until I sat up and pressed the white button and Kaiya quickly came in. If it wasn't for that, I'd probably be dead. Kaiya can't be there to keep an eye on me all the time and I didn't want to hurt anyone. It'd be a lot easier for me to just live with Sasuke… even though I didn't know him that well. I'm sure I could handle him if anything were to happen.

"… Fine, I'll live with you. But I'm not cooking for you, you can do that yourself," I said, shocking Kiba.

"Why won't you move in with me instead?"

"Because I don't know your parents and I don't think they'd like having a girl the same age as you move in… I don't think they'd accept me anyway. The nurses at the hospital were acting strange around me," I explained, reaching over and giving him a small hug.

"I'll come over and play every day, okay?" He nodded and grinned.

"You better or I'll track you down and kick your butt," he told me.

I laughed and patted Akamaru on the head, receiving a yip and a lick in response. "I'll see you tomorrow Akamaru, okay?"

He barked and I headed out the door to catch up with Sasuke who had left when I said I would live with him. I gave Kiba a wave and a smile as I left. _I think I made a couple new friends… Maybe this is a way to stop being so cold to everyone_… I mused. Sasuke was already in the middle of a crowded corner of the village. I ran forward, weaving in between people like I practiced in the forest. It actually worked surprisingly well considering people moved and trees didn't. I caught up with Sasuke in a few minutes. I walked a few feet behind him, giving him space. I didn't want him to get annoyed by me already.

We walked in silence and the streets slowly became less populated and quieter. Eventually we ended up on a lone street that lead into what looked like a mini village inside the village. It was like a ghost town- no one was there. Then I remembered that all the entire Uchiha clan had been murdered by Itachi Uchiha- except his little brother, Sasuke. _He must be really lonely…_ I thought.

"Do I have to pay rent?" I asked.

"You don't have any money or you would have stayed at the inn," Sasuke replied.

I forgot that he wasn't as dimwitted as all the other students at the academy. "... Then I'll cook…"

"I thought you said I had to cook for myself," he retorted.

"I thought I was going to have to pay to stay here."

"Well, you're not cooking because I don't trust that your cooking is edible. I don't want to get sick because of food poisoning."

"You think I'd do that? How do you think I survived in the forest for a year? I learned how to cook on my own!" I was starting to get annoyed by him.

"You probably built up a good immune system and can't get food poisoning."

"… Annoying…" I muttered, glaring at his back.

"Hn."

He led me to a very nice- yet depressing because the only people there were Sasuke and I in the whole place- house in the middle of the area his clan lived in. We walked up the steps and took off our shoes at the entrance. The bare wood floor was cold and dark, as was the rest of the house. The walls were white and bare, the kitchen empty of any presence, and the whole place basically said abandoned. It was really… lonely…

"Aren't you lonely here?" I asked quietly.

"Weren't you lonely in the forest?" he replied, his voice just as soft.

"Actually no, the animals always woke me up in the middle of the night. It was never really quiet in there," I said, rubbing a hand up and down my arm to warm it up.

"Hn. Your room will be Itachi's old room… It's the second door on the right down this hall." He pointed.

"Who's room is that one?" I asked, gesturing to the first door.

"… It's mine. Don't go in there unless the house is one fire or you're about to die," he said.

_Not that I would want to go in there in the first place…_ I thought. _I'm not a Sakura… _"Why did you say I could stay here when you don't like girls?"

"Who says I don't like girls?"

"I'm not saying you like guys, I'm saying you find us annoying and weak," I murmured, folding my arms across my chest.

"Not all of you. Just ones like Sakura and Ino."

"So you like me…?"

"I don't hate you," he said, walking away. "You should get something to eat."

An hour and a full meal (that was quite delicious, I might add) later, I wandered outside into the forest that was behind the house. It wasn't like the one I was used to, but it was very densely populated with trees. It was also eerily… quiet for a forest. No birds were chirping, no squirrels were jumping from tree to tree, and no stray dogs were barking in the middle of the night… I heard the crack of a twig to my right and headed towards the sound, wondering what animal it could be. As I walked forward, the trees started to become a little less dense, and I noticed a clearing ahead. When I got close enough, I saw someone jump straight up in the air and launch kunai into many different directions. I examined where the kunai hit- most were on a target, but a few of them hand missed, and only a couple were actually a bulls-eye. The person landed in the middle of the clearing and examined where the kunai had landed just like I did. Exhausted, the person sat down where they were and stared up at the sky. I took a few hesitant steps forward and saw the familiar white and blue outfit Sasuke wore. His eyes were dark as he stared at the stars in the sky in silence.

_**"Weren't you lonely in the forest?" he replied.**_

_No… but you were…_ I walked forward into the clearing, noticing that Sasuke had a few scratches on him. He didn't acknowledge my presence. It was like he wasn't here either. He was lost in his thoughts… I slowly sat down next to him and stared up at the stars with him. My eyes searched for Mom, Dad and Chiyoko. They were right above us, twinkling softly. I pulled my knees up to under my chin and wrapped my arms around them.

"Are they why you train?" he asked me, still staring up at the stars.

"If I just trained for them, they'd be upset. I have to train for myself, too… and learn to let others in," I answered.

He didn't reply, and continued to watch the stars.

"You see those three right above us that are shining really brightly? The one on the left is my Dad. In the middle is my unborn sister Chiyoko. My mom's the one on the right." I pointed at them.

"How did they die?" he asked me, staring at them.

"My mom just told me I was going to be an older sister. I chose her name when Dad walked in. My mom had spilt all the ingredients for dinner all over her and the floor and covered me in it when she gave me a hug. We threw rice and an egg at Dad, so that way dinner was on him, too. Then the window broke open, and a man sliced my dad's throat. He started to ask me questions- a few were about you, but I wasn't close to you so I couldn't say anything much. He said his name was Orochimaru and that he was going to take me away," my voice darkened. "He stabbed my mom through her stomach and killed my little sister. Mom died a little later. I ran away before he could take me anywhere."

"I was running late from school one day. The place was eerily quiet and everything was closed. I hurried home and looked for mom and dad. When I opened the door to their room their bodies were lying on the floor. My elder brother told me he had killed everyone in the village. He used his blood limit to show me…" he trailed off and went silent for a bit before starting up again. "He had killed mom and dad last. I ran away and got to the middle of the village before he found me. He told me that he was going to keep me alive to challenge him. He told me that there was a secret bloodline trait in the village, and to get it I would have to kill my best friend. I'm going to defeat him and restore my clan."

I peered at him through my hair. "You know, I don't think your brother could have killed you. I think you're too important to him. And not for a fight to test his skills," I added, knowing what he was about to reply with.

"How would you know? You're not him, you weren't there, and he SHOWED me how they died! You know nothing about it!" He shouted at me angrily, standing up.

"I know what it's like to be an older sibling. I know what it's like to want to protect them with your life. I know what it's like to want to see them grow up strong and happy. I know what it's like to have them taken away and there's nothing I can do about it," I whispered.

He calmed down as I spoke. "Well Itachi's not as kind hearted as you are," he said stubbornly.

"Was that a compliment?" I stared up into his eyes, which were a lot more open than they were at school.

"No… It wasn't…" he mumbled, a small blush creeping onto his face as he turned away.

I smiled gently at him. "Shall we go home?"

"Sure…" He pulled me up and we walked back home side by side.

It was nice knowing I had a home to go to, even if there was only one person to greet me. That was one more than I had the past year.

"Kiba said it was in the back of the village…" I said as I walked through the streets.

It was really crowded in the middle of the day. People were in the market, buying all different kinds of things. Food, clothes, jewelry, toys… there were even some people paying others to clean their houses. _Maybe Sasuke should start doing that…_ I thought. Then I realized I didn't have a gift for Kiba's family. _Aren't I supposed to do that…? Mom had us do that once when we went over to someone's house…_ I looked around for something that they would accept. _No, clothes are too… personal. I don't think they'll like jewelry… and I don't want to get them food because they might be allergic to it… maybe some weapons? Ones they could use with their dogs?_ I headed over to the weapons shop and started browsing.

"Welcome," the shop owner said when he heard the bell jingle as I stepped in.

He turned around to look at me and his eyes narrowed when he saw my hair. "I'm sorry, but I'm closing soon. Get out," he said coldly.

I raised an eyebrow. "Do I know you or something…? You seem to be familiar… Oh, yeah! You're the guy who's cruel to kids who haven't done anything wrong!" I said loudly, getting the attention of many of the adults that were shopping in the store.

They shot the man a glare and began to whisper to each other.

"We should stop shopping here; I heard that there was a nice old man who made high quality weapons a little ways into the forest on the east side of the village."

"I heard about him! It's said that the prices there are lower than they are here!"

"I can't believe the nerve of this guy, picking on an innocent young girl… She hasn't done anything!"

"I heard she's the one that had to live in the forest when her parents died because she didn't have any place to go! This guy is the worst!"

"Yeah!"

The shop owner began to become flustered and began to turn pale as many of his customers began to walk out of the shop. He cast a hard look at me before turning desperately back to his customers.

"You don't know what this girl's mom did! She was with Orochimaru! I heard that Orochimaru was after the girl, too!" he protested, causing many of the customers to stop and turn around.

"My… mom…?"

_**"Well, if it isn't Miss Sawako. How have you been my dear? Any pain…?"**_

"And you'll turn out just like her! The apple doesn't fall far from the tree!"

_My mom…? Was she taken advantage of too? Was that why she became part of the ANBU? To become strong so she could protect what's important to her? Why was she with Orochimaru in the first place? Did she go to him willingly? Why…?_ The thoughts raced through my head, one after another and I didn't have an answer for any of them.

"How horrible! Get this girl out of here!"

"It'll be all her fault if the village gets attacked by Orochimaru!"

"I better take my daughter out of the academy and away from the likes of her!"

"It was bad enough with that Naruto, now this?"

"HEY! Don't start blaming Amaya for things that she didn't do! Blame it on her mom if you have to blame it on anyone!" a voice yelled angrily.

I turned and almost ran right into Kiba. He pulled me to him and glared at all the adults that were saying things about me… and especially at the shopkeeper and the mom who said something about Naruto. Akamaru growled, standing on top of Kiba's head. Kiba slid a hand into mine and pulled me away from the shop.

"Come on, Amaya. You shouldn't hang around people who are a bad influence," he told me, holding my hand tightly.

His hand was warm and soothing, and it was all I could focus on as he tugged me around the village into a place where there was much less people around. We walked along a dirt road, his hand still holding mine. When we were far enough away from the shop all the emotions that had been swirling inside of me exploded. All the anger, frustration, pain, confusion and loneliness… I stopped walking and my vision began to blurry. Wet trails streamed down my face. Kiba turned to look at me and froze. I tried to take in a deep breath but it caught in my throat and I let out a shaky sigh. I raised my free had to my face and covered an eye with a fist, the tears still pouring out.

"Amaya…? Did they hurt you?" Kiba asked me hesitantly, walking closer to me so that we stood a few inches apart.

I shook my head and began to sniffle. "It's okay to cry… loudly, you know," Kiba said, reaching out and pushing some hair out of my face.

Again, I shook my head. I refused to sob. Tears were fine, but I wasn't going to make any noise and attract attention. Not when I didn't want people staring at me. Kiba sighed and pulled me into a hug, pressing my face against his chest. My eyes widened, and the hand that had been against my eye migrated to his jacket and clutched at the fabric. _Well… Maybe just this time…_ Sobs began to wrack my body, and Kiba held me tighter, knowing I'd want the sounds to be muffled so they weren't as loud. We stood like this for a few more minutes before the sobs died down and all I did was quietly sniffle.

"Thank you," I said thickly, even though no more tears were going to come out.

I pulled back from him and stared up into his face. His eyes were filled with concern, and he wiped away one of the tears that hadn't fully made it past my cheek. He continued to stare into my eyes, and I began to become self-conscious. We were standing close, my hand still clutching his jacket and his arms still around me. A blush slowly crept onto my face.

"K-Kiba…?" I shuffled my feet nervously.

He frowned in confusion before realizing the position we were in and he pulled away, putting his hands in the pockets of his jackets. His face began to turn red and he turned away. We stood in an awkward silence for a while before I laughed. He turned his head back towards me and stared at me before laughing to. It quickly became a laughing contest and we started walking to his place again, laughing at each other for acting so silly.

"I'm glad I ran into you earlier. I was about to go track you down," Kiba said, casting me a wicked grin.

"Oh! That reminds me, I was going there to get your family something…"

He gave me a weird look. "Why would you do that?"

"Isn't that what you're supposed to do when you go over to someone's home?" I asked, confused.

"Not for ninjas."

"Oh…" we continued to walk in silence until we reached his home.

"Um… maybe we should play outside. My mom's home and she kinda… scares me," Kiba said, backing away slowly with an apologetic look.

"That's oka-"

"Kiba! Get your butt in here!" a voice shouted commandingly.

Kiba paled. "Mom found me already…"

He started to walk towards the house quickly, pulling me with him until we heard a very dark and sinister growl.

"You're little lady friend isn't coming in here until you clean out all the dog houses!" the same commanding voice yelled.

"Maybe I should go home for the day…" I said, pulling my arm out of Kiba's hold.

"Yeah… we can play later…" he said.

I turned around and started to walk away when Kiba called back to me. I turned and he gave me a bright smile. "Tell me if anyone bothers you on your way home, got it?"

I nodded and smiled and quickly left as another growl came from the house. _I wonder how big that dog is…_ I thought, worried that it might come after me. _I'm definitely going to try to stay away from there._

Now that I wasn't with Kiba, the thoughts about my mom began to plague my mind again. I walked aimlessly around the village. People began to cast curious glances at me after I had walked in a circle for the fourth time. I sighed. There had to be answers somewhere in this village. I looked up and saw the Hokage Mountain staring down at me. Their faces would forever be remembered, just like all the good deeds they did for their people. The Hokage… The archives! In the Main Building in the city, there was an archive that held all the information of all the people that had ever been in or involved with the Leaf Village. I turned and set off towards the building just as the sun began to set on the horizon.

The guards at the gates let me in without asking where I was going. _Maybe they already knew… _I shook the thought from my head. There was no way they knew. No one in the village was psychic._ At least that I know of… _Again, I pushed the negative thoughts from my mind. Hopefully I'd be lucky and find the door open… The Hokage had shown me around the village after I passed the test and told him everything that happened. He had shown me where the archives were and how to get in them to see the basic knowledge of everything, sort of like a library. _If I could just remember which door it was… I believe it was the second door on the left, the third flight of stairs…_ I climbed up the stairs quickly, not wanting to run into anyone on my way there. I counted the doors when I got to the third floor. _One… two on the left…_ I opened the door and ended up in the archives. _Thank goodness it's unlocked and I remembered. _The shelves were organized by last name and rank. Mom would be under "Hi" being in the first row.

I read off the names. _Hiashi… Hikona… Hijame… Hisako Sawako. _I pulled her file off the shelf and looked through it**. She was an ANBU, recently deceased. She was thirty two years of age when she died. Her blood type is B negative…** I flipped through all the things that didn't help me find any answers to what I needed to know. **When she was nine her parents were murdered by an unknown rogue ninja who had raided their house. Her older brother, Sora, was killed as well. Sawako and her little brother Seita were taken by the enemy ninja. A few years later Sawako was discovered in the forest. She said that her little brother was still with the ninja who she was able to identify as Orochimaru. Seita is still missing to this day. It is believed that he is now either an accomplice of Orochimaru or dead. Sawako has a daughter, Amaya Hisako. An eye should be kept on her at all times… **I read the last few lines and my vision began to turn red.

I put the folder back on the shelf shakily and crumpled to the floor, curling into a ball. My hands tightened into fists, veins straining against my skin. My knuckles turned white and bleeding crescents formed on my palms.

**Sawako was the thirteenth child that had been taken away by Orochimaru. Amaya would have been the fifty seventh if she didn't get away. Forty eight families have been separated the same way Sawako and Amaya's were. In Sawako's time it was much more rare for this to happen. In between Sawako's capture and Amaya's birth there had only been the thirteen children taken. In the past five years, Orochimaru has taken forty four children. All of the bodies that we have recovered of those children have a three pronged mark on their shoulder just like Sawako.**

Orochimaru had experimented on so many lives… On so many people… I grinded my teeth. I would kill him. I would crush his ribs, rip out his intestines, break his arms and cut off his legs. I would rip out his spine and strangle him with it as I tore his heart from his chest. I would stab him repeatedly with his own broken arm when the bone snapped off in a jagged piece. I would tear him to shreds and shove his eyes down his throat to watch as I ripped apart his innards one by one. He would pay. Animosity welled up in my heart and consumed me. The more I learned of Orochimaru that was true, the more the hatred for him inside my heart would grow.

_Orochimaru… I will hunt you down… and I will completely destroy you._


	4. Fragmented Part 1

A/N: Alrighty. No excuses, guys. I am so sorry. I couldn't come up with a good way to make this chapter interesting, and I didn't want to put it out while it… was… horribly boring. It still kind of is, but that's what a filler chapter usually is- extremely boring. Except for those good authors who can make even a filler chapter interesting, but that doesn't seem to be me. Anyway, I tried different things over and over and nothing really helped. But here it is, a little better than I thought it would be, and if you want plot, I am extremely sorry, but you're going to have to read this to understand what's going on. And if it's painful to read, it was doubly painful to write. I'm really sorry. And I also got a little side tracked with… … video games… … more like a lot… … I'm really sorry, guys, but I'm going to throw in a bonus chapter about some fun times with Amaya after this for you guys while she was in the forest. Please forgive me! And if you don't, I totally understand. Thank you for reading another chapter! 3-Ame

**Itadakimasu*- it is comparable with saying grace before a meal- it means "Thank you for the food". Usually towards a God unless atheist, then it's towards whoever made the meal.**

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Or else every 3/5 people in the series/show would have died… and it wouldn't have lasted that long. O_o on that note, it is a good thing I do not own Naruto.

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Ame is really sorry! Please forgive her!

Fragmented- Part 1

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"The life of a young warrior is a long and harsh journey. Even more so for the poor souls who wander alone… Searching for parts of themselves they may never find."

::~~~~~~~~~~~::

"Amaya…?" a voice called out to me.

Gasping, I turned towards the voice, droplets of the blood on my hands trickling to the floor. I stared up at the dark outline of the figure that had called out to me. My eyes landed on his hair and vaguely made out the spikes in the back and the long bangs on the side of his face. _When had it gotten so dark in here…? When did he get here…?_

"Sasuke…?" I whispered softly.

He walked forward and leaned down next to me, gazing at the red crescents on my palms. He took my hands into his own and gently undid the tight fists I had them in. They were stiff after being clenched so tightly for such a long period of time. It hurt to relax them. Sasuke traced the outlines of the marks on my hand with a finger, wiping away some of the blood that was still seeping out of the wounds. I glanced up at him, trying to meet his gaze but it was too dark for me to see them.

"What are you doing here…?" He slowly leaned down and helped me stand up.

"I could ask you the same thing, even more so because of the wounds."

I glanced down at my hands again. The crescents were the only thing that my eyes would focus on. They looked so… painful and… disgusting. For hours I had sat there with my nails embedded in my palms…

"I… didn't know I was doing that…" I whispered, putting my hands behind my back so he wouldn't stare at them anymore.

He stood silently for a moment before tugging me out of the room and down the stairs. I stumbled along, trying not to trip at the fast pace he had set. _Orochimaru… I will find you… and when I do…_ Anger simmered within me again, barely contained the whole time we walked home.

"So you want to tell me why you were in the archives for so long? Without knowing just how long you were there?" Sasuke asked me, crossing his arms.

We sat in the kitchen, across from each other. We had been silent for about half an hour, staring each other down. I wasn't going to say why I was there, and he wasn't, either. It irritated me that he could be as stubborn as I could. I wasn't going to break, though. He would be the first to explain why he was in the archives. My hands had been bandaged within minutes of entering the compound. I rubbed the white, irritating cloth they were wrapped in. I hated bandages. They always made me itchy. It annoys me to no end. You'd think they'd make the bandages out of something that would soothe the wounded person, not make them suffer even more.

"Why should I when you won't tell me what you were doing there?" I retorted, curling up into a ball.

I rested my chin against my knees and we entered a standoff again. My eyes stared into his, his eyes glared into mine. We sat silently, daring the other to make a move. Finally, when Sasuke realized that neither of us would get the information we wanted unless someone caved, he uncrossed his arms and sat back, staring off at the wall behind me.

"I was… looking for information on where my brother might be," he answered reluctantly.

I nodded. It was understandable, and made complete sense. Of course he would be looking for his brother- he wanted to destroy him and get revenge for his clan. Just like it made sense that I would want to know more about my mom after the things the people in the village said… I had more questions than answers, though. _Sasuke does too. _

"I was reading about my mom and her connection to Orochimaru," I explained, closing my eyes against the anger that his name evoked in me.

He looked back at me, understanding shimmering in the black depths of his eyes. That was why we were so close, I realized. _We understand each other; we're similar in so many ways… yet so very different_, I thought, remembering what I had said about Itachi. _I wish he could understand… I hope he does, before something happens that he can't take back…_

"I think we should go to sleep now… It's really late." I stood up and walked out of the room, my fingers still idly tracing the bandages on my hands.

"Yeah… Do you want to train with me tomorrow?"

"Sure."

I walked into my room and closed the door, my feet padding lightly against the floorboards. Sighing, I quickly changed into my night clothes, pulling on a simple, pale white button up shirt and matching bottoms. I grabbed my blanket and headed towards the futon, laying down and getting as comfortable as I could. My eyes closed and I drifted to sleep for the night, thoughts of the day's events playing over and over in my thoughts…

I opened my eyes to a dark, desolate room. I shivered, the freezing, biting cold seeping in through my skin, chilling my core. My futon was gone, replaced with the cold hard concrete. My blanket was gone, too. The simple night clothes I wore did little to fend off the cold in the room. I could see my breath as I let out shaky pants of air. The walls- all plain and empty- seemed to be closing in on me… closer and closer… The feel of something sleek and scaly crawling up my leg sent shivers down my spine and I glance down fearfully. The bright yellow eyes of the reptile met my own as it wound itself around my leg, its forked tongue flicking out time after time. It slowly began to sway back and forth as it rose up to stare into my eyes, making us the same height. It hissed lowly, moving forward and shaking its tail slightly. The snake stared me down, and then darted towards my neck, biting down harshly upon my skin. I felt the skin break and my blood leak down my arm and all over my shirt, staining it forever red. I gasped and my eyes widened as I felt it release something in me… like it poisoned me… and then the pain began.

I screamed in agony, wails echoing off the walls that had been closing in on me. White hot scalding fire raced through my veins, burning me… hurting me… My muscles began to clench and jerk causing my screams to become even louder. Tears ran frantically down my cheeks and I shook my head back and forth, my lungs aching from all the air I was releasing. The pain kicked up another notch as it made my skin shift over my bones, which began to grind against one another as my muscles wrenched in ways they should never go. I didn't feel it when the snake got off of me. All I knew was that I was rolling on the floor, agonized scream after agonized scream ripping itself from my throat. My eyes began to burn and I clawed at them, sobbing and screaming, wanting it all to end. The fire in my veins then reached my heart, and my screams became inhuman screeches. Pain was all I knew. It was all I could think about. I couldn't focus, couldn't see, couldn't hear, couldn't taste or touch. My senses were robbed from me as I writhed on the floor, not noticing that everything I did was being watched. The pain got worse and I rolled onto my side, retching out all the contents of my stomach on the floor. It was one of the most painful things I had ever done. To scream and sob while my throat had things coming up and out of it was… excruciating. My throat was hoarse and sore afterwards… and then the pain surfaced in my brain. The pain couldn't reach me anymore. The world went black and I couldn't feel anything… there was nothing… nothing but a voice…

"I told you you'd come to me, Amaya."

I sat up, sweat cascading down my body and a strangled gasp caught in my throat. I touched the crook of my neck and glanced down at my fingers. There was no blood; I didn't feel any liquid either. I looked around at my surroundings. The brown and white walls were back, as was the cool wooden floors. I breathed in the scent of the air, stale and safe. I listened to the sound of my labored breathing, the only sound in the room. The aftertaste of dinner lingered on my tongue. My senses were back and he— the door slid open and Sasuke's head peeked in.

"Amaya…? Are you okay?" he asked fuzzily.

"Y-yeah… just a nightmare…" I breathed out, slowly calming down.

Sasuke fully entered the room, dressed in a blue- and male- version of what I was wearing. His footsteps were slow and careful, as if he was going to topple over and fall asleep at any minute. It hadn't been that long since we went to bed if the aftertaste of dinner was still on my tongue…

"There's no 'just' when it comes to a nightmare…" he muttered darkly, his voice husky from sleep. "What happened?"

"I was in an empty cold room… and then there was a snake and i-it bit me on my neck, right here," I said, touching the spot. "It hurt like any snake bite would… then it put some kind of venom in me- it felt really weird- then after a few seconds… it felt like my insides were being shredded and my blood was being boiled. It hurt so much, I wanted to die. I couldn't think, I couldn't feel, I couldn't hear, I couldn't see, I couldn't smell, I couldn't taste- it was… extremely agonizing. I couldn't stop screaming, but I couldn't hear my own screams it hurt so much…" tears began to fall down my face and I wrapped my arms around myself. "It got worse and worse until the venom reached my brain and then I couldn't feel anything, it didn't hurt anymore." My voice rose in panic and fear. "And then I heard _his_ v-voice and he said 'I told you you'd come to me' and I-I was so scared-," I broke off and began to sob, my hands pressed against my face.

A set of arms wrapped around me and pulled me close and I cried out. The pain still lingered in my mind, making me wish that I could forget; that I never had the nightmare, that Orochimaru never entered my life…

"Sasuke," I sobbed, clutching at him.

_So scared…_

"Don't be frightened…"

_ He's going to get me…_

"…I won't let him get you…"

_ He'll hurt me…_

"…He won't hurt you…"

_ So much pain…_

"…That pain wasn't real…

_ He's going to get me…_

"…I won't let him touch you…"

_ It hurts!_

"…You won't be hurt like that…"

_ I'm scared…!_

"…So don't be scared…"

_ Stop him…_

"…I'll make him stop…"

_Help me… please help me, save me; don't let him get me… please!_

"…I'll protect you."

I lifted my head to stare up at him. His eyes were soft and determined, worried and calm. He held me, gently stroking my hair. He was always there for me whenever I needed him. Shelter… companionship… medical attention… protection… he was always right there. He would protect me; keep me safe. I wouldn't have to worry so much or be afraid…

"Sasuke… I-"

I closed my eyes against the warmth that flooded through me. His lips against mine with the barest of pressure- they felt so soft and comforting… I wrapped my arms around his neck, holding him captive against my mouth. His hand came up and cupped my cheek in his hand, his fingers splayed into my hair. My own tangled into his silky strands, caressing the nape of his neck tentatively. Time passed slowly as he held me in his arms… wiping away all my concerns, all of my worries, all of my thoughts… there was only here and now… He pulled back slightly and rested his forehead against mine, staring into my eyes, searching them. Whatever he saw made him smirk slightly and brush his fingers across my cheek.

"You're blushing… it's really cute."

I flushed even more and turned away, a frown on my face. "Y-you surprised me…" I mumbled, embarrassed.

He chuckled and pulled me closer to him. I smiled slightly and rested my head against his chest.

"… Can you go to sleep now without any nightmares?" he asked me, rubbing my back in gentle circles.

"… I think so…"

"Alright then… I guess we should go back to sleep." He pulled away from me and walked to the door.

"Goodnight." He said, not looking back at me.

I opened my mouth to ask him to wait, to talk, surprised, but he shut the door before I could say anything. Mouth gaping, I stared at the door, utterly shocked. He just waltzed right in, said he'd protect me, held me, kissed me, and walked right out of the room without saying a thing about it. Anger swelled inside my chest. _What the heck was that? He just took what he wanted and left without talking about it! What does this make us? Does he even like me? I don't even know if I feel anything for him! That guy just stole my first kiss- without my consent! _The more I thought it over, the angrier I got. I glared at the door he had just walked through.

"You prick!" I growled, throwing myself into bed.

I fell asleep without dreaming, completely and utterly pissed. When I woke up, though, I was willing to try again. Maybe he was just embarrassed yesterday.

"Good morning," I said, glancing at Sasuke as he walked into the kitchen to get something for breakfast.

He grunted and glanced over at the stove, eyeing the fish that I was cooking and the already finished rice and miso soup.

"That's too much for just you to eat, even if you do eat a lot." A vein popped in my forehead, but I quickly calmed myself.

"Well, I thought I'd make you breakfast today," I said lightly.

"I don't trust your cooking; give it to Kiba or something." I opened my mouth to protest but he left the room and wandered off somewhere without giving me a chance to say anything.

"Sasuke… you…" I ground my teeth together. _I should give it to Kiba, right in front of him!_

I put the food in a bento box and grabbed two pairs of chopsticks. I'd share it with Kiba and make Sasuke realize that my food isn't disgusting! I walked out of the house and ran to the training grounds, hoping that Kiba would be around Sasuke today. I quickly entered the forest and ran, jumping up into the trees to move faster towards the training grounds.

"Hey, Kiba, are you here?" I shouted out as I was within a few yards from entering the training grounds.

"Amaya, hurry up and get over here!" I sped up, excited to put the plan in motion- well, and to see him, I truly enjoy hanging out with him.

I popped out of the trees and ended up tackling him to the ground on accident. I gasped and glanced down at the food in my hands. It was safe, perfectly intact. My eyes roamed the grounds and landed on Sasuke, training nearby. _This is the weirdest coincidence I have experienced in my life, but I'm going to go with it_, I thought happily. I glanced down at Kiba.

"Are you alright? I didn't mean to do that…" I quickly got off of him and he sat up, giving me a grin.

"It's all good, I'm just fine," he said. Then he sniffed the air and glanced at the bento box in my hands curiously. "That really smells good, what is it?"

Sasuke glanced over at us, staring at the food in my hands with a look I couldn't understand. He quickly looked away before I could analyze it too much. _Thank goodness Kiba's really loud!_

"It's some breakfast I made… do you want to eat it with me? I made too much for me to eat." Kiba grinned.

"Sure!" _I can't believe I'm doing this… I'm now at Sakura's level…_

I handed him the bento and grabbed a pair of chopsticks and opened them. Kiba ripped into the box like there was no tomorrow and opened the lid as fast as he could. There was a wild gleam in his eyes, like he was a starving man who hasn't had any food for weeks.

"Itadakimasu*" we said in unison, taking a bite of the food.

It was pleasant to my taste buds, warm and delicious- as always. The year that was spent in the forest was a brutal one. Learning how to survive with no money… no guaranteed shelter… always in constant danger… the only thing that I learned that I wanted to was how to cook well. I had caught fish time after time and cooked each one. At the very beginning, it was always burnt and disgusting, but I ate it all- I wouldn't waste any food. Not when other animals would need to eat too… Over a few months, I had perfected cooking all types of meat without seasoning. It was pretty easy to figure out exactly what was needed for the dishes- all I did was go by taste. The dish I had cooked this morning was exactly like that.

Kiba looked from the food to me and back. He began to drool. "This… is the most delicious thing I have ever tasted in my life!" He proceeded to eat like there was no tomorrow.

Sasuke glanced over again. His gaze was cool and accepting as he met my eyes. He nodded at me and walked away without a word. I froze, shocked. He didn't comment on Kiba, he didn't say anything about the food; he just walked away after giving me a look… I was even more angry and confused than I was this morning. _Did he really not understand? Or is he playing around with me?_ I wondered, glaring at his retreating form.

_Sasuke… you idiot!_

"Sasuke… about last night… I don't understand."

He didn't turn around to look at me. His gaze was focused solely on the lake in front of him. He sat on the dock, his foot dangling off a few inches above the water. The sun had begun to set on the horizon, casting a pale pink and orange glow across the water. It had taken me a while to find Sasuke. Well, that and I had stayed with Kiba for a few hours after eating to talk, train and play. It was really… fun. I hadn't had so much fun in a while… it was nice. For that… for making me happy and helping me forget about everything and cheering me up without even trying… Kiba would always be my very best friend. Nothing more, nothing less, unlike…

"What don't you understand?"

"Why did you…" I trailed off, slightly nervous. I still wasn't sure about this… but he made me feel so safe and warm…

"It felt right. No other reason. It won't happen again, though. I won't get distracted until after I defeat Itachi. Even then… there's no guarantee," he said, standing up and walking past me.

My heart clenched in pain slightly as his shoulder brushed mine on his way past. I continued to stand where I was, staring unseeingly at the lake before me. I was so confused. I had been expecting something like this… but I had wanted him to say something else. To say that he… liked me? I was filled with regret for pushing him for an answer, aching slightly from the answer I had expected, confused that I felt the pain, and angry that Sasuke had taken something from me I would never get back without a second glance.

Turning to Sasuke's back, I picked up the nearest rock and threw it with as much force as I could at his head. It hit him right in the back of his head and he stumbled forward, his hands moving to where the pain he was starting to feel was coming from. I glared at him, raging.

"Sasuke, you ignorant bastard! Go get a concussion!" with that, I ran in the other direction of where the compound was… and towards the gates of the village, where the forest was…

"Whoa, I'm sorry Amaya, but you can't leave without the permission of the Hokage," one of the gatekeepers said, blocking my way.

"Please let me go out just this once. I need to go visit my old house-"his gaze darkened.

"That isn't a good idea… the rumors will get worse… and it's not a good idea to go when no one's been there to remove the bodies… we don't know how to locate your home-"

"Then come with me! I don't care; I just need to go there for a few minutes!"

He traded a glance with the other gate keeper. He turned back to me and his face was contemplating.

"How about you take us there, but you stay outside? Do you need to be in the house?" I shook my head, and he nodded.

"Very well. Let's go, you lead the way." I nodded and took off as fast as I could, causing him to struggle to keep up with the pace I set.

"You're a fast one, aren't you?"

"I had to be to get away from him…" _Though I still wasn't fast enough somehow if I was able to hear him…_ I thought.

We reached the clearing in the forest where my house was, a good 4 miles away from the village. I stood silently as he went inside of the house, pulling out a few scrolls that he would use to seal the bodies in. I still didn't understand how that worked. They used their chakra to activate a jutsu that… sucked the person into the paper? It didn't make any sense, but then, neither did anything that we ninja did in the first place.

I closed my eyes and kneeled to the ground where I was, leaning back against a tree. Just like I had after running away from Orochimaru- I gritted my teeth. The name still made me boil over with hatred. _I still don't understand… why was he here? How did he find Mom? Why me…?_ I thought, opening my eyes and looking up at the sky.

The stars glittered beautifully tonight. Mom, Chiyoko and Dad were, of course, still the brightest stars in the sky. They were brighter than usual, though. It was probably because I was closer to their final resting place than I was in the village. They were watching over me all the time… _I wish I could just stay goodbye to them… _I thought. Suddenly the gatekeeper stood before me.

"They aren't there. Are you sure this is the place?" I froze.

"Not… there…?" I bolted past him into the house and ran into the kitchen.

There was dried, old blood on the floor. It looked like red chalk… but there were no bodies. Not even the fluid of Chiyoko was left behind on the floor. They were just… gone. A big, bloody mess… without the bodies.

"No… they were right here, no one has been here! No one knows where this place is but me and-"I broke off, realizing what must have happened.

Orochimaru had taken my family away from me again. He was probably experimenting with their dead bodies… I gagged and crumpled to the ground. A scalpel being used to dissect Mom and Dad's rotting corpses… Chiyoko in a small test tube, floating in an unknown substance… An evil, satisfied smirk on Orochimaru's face… Orochimaru was still experimenting with my family beyond the grave…

I screamed out in rage.

Months had passed since the discovery of my parent's missing bodies. I had disappeared into the forest again without a word after graduating from the academy and becoming a true ninja. I was training harder than I ever would be able to with a four man squad that Iruka-sense divided everyone in. To make sure my teamwork skills weren't below par… I had found a couple stray ninja that were in a similar situation as me and they became registered in the Leaf village before leaving just like I did. I had trained with them side by side for 4 months in the wilderness. We avoided all the ANBU and jonin that they had sent for us. By now, the Chuunin exams were coming up... It was time for me to return to the village. We were beyond ready to get to the next step.

The stray ninja I had found were both guys, as expected. There weren't many girls that would be able to survive alone in the wilderness… Or outrun Orochimaru. In fact… many had probably given up before the last person had died, crumpled on the ground in a crying fit and were taken away by Orochimaru for his experiments. Sometimes… being so emotional wasn't a good thing- especially when you are in a life or death situation. It's best to hold the tears in until afterwards, when you get caught after putting up a fight or escape. Being compassionate creatures, we always forgot that little part of things we could do to stay alive longer. Well, not always. As usual, there are exceptions to the rules- like me.

The first ninja I had found was startlingly close to the Leaf Village, actually. He was probably about a mile away, if not closer. I had stumbled upon him a couple weeks after I left the village while he was fighting a particularly large mother bear- whose cubs were watching from the sidelines anxiously- and was clearly the one with the upper hand. He also had no weapons, dodged the bear's attacks with ease, and frankly looked like one blow from the bear and he would be finished permanently. He was scrawny, with a tangled head of shaggy brown hair that could use a good wash. He was average height- about an inch or two taller than me. He was also pretty tan- I guess it was from staying outdoors all day and fighting bears every now and again. The whole time he was fighting the bear, he never struck once. There were plenty of chances for him to do so but he never acted on any of them. Soon the matriarch began to tire, her massive paws swinging slower and slower. Eventually, she gave out and fell to the ground with harsh panting, sweating profusely- yes, she was sweating. Bears have sweat glands too, you know. Or at least this one did. Then the boy did the most astonishing thing yet. He beckoned the cubs over- shockingly they actually listened and padded right towards him- and had the cubs sit around their mother. She feebly tried to growl at them to get them to go away, but the boy then produced a handful of berries and fed them both. He gave a quick pat on the head to both of the cubs and walked off, not a tangled strand of hair out of place. I followed him as he headed up in the trees, taking the vantage point and travelling a couple branches above him. He came up to a stream and jumped into it, turning and staring up at the branches where I was. Or that's what I assumed he was doing, seeing as I couldn't see his eyes at all. He then proceeded to take off his scraggly blue shirt and I quickly spoke up, not wanting to see him bathe.

"Excuse me but… why didn't you attack the bear and make her calm down by hitting her in the neck?"

He stopped moving and motioned for me to come down from the tree. "I was waiting for you to speak up. I can't see you too clearly, would you come down here please?" he asked politely in his soft, gentle voice.

I quirked an eyebrow at him, but jumped down. It's no wonder he can't see me that clearly, his hair is right in front of his eyes. _He should probably cut that…_ I thought as I sauntered up to him. He tilted his head slightly as I approached him.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"I asked you a question first…"

He grinned slightly at me. "Right- I didn't attack her because I didn't need to. I was trying to build up her trust in me. Plus… her kids were watching," he explained, his expression quickly becoming solemn and cut off. "They shouldn't have to see their mother get hurt… No kid should…"

"… Did you have to watch…?" I asked mutedly, anger and sadness welling up in me, along with the memories of my own mother.

He faced me, his expression critical. "Didn't you?"

"… My name's Amaya, Amaya Hisako. What's your name?"

"… I'm Hijino Yuushin. It's nice to meet you," he said, polite as he was in the beginning.

"If you don't mind me asking… was it… _Him_?" I prodded, anger coiling in me as his face got cut off again.

"Who else would leave me alive?" he asked bitterly.

It was obviously a rhetorical question, and I knew what I needed to do now. I had been wandering aimlessly in the forest, training for hours every day when I wasn't sleeping or traveling deeper and deeper into the forestation. I didn't know what to do next- but it was blaringly obvious now. I needed to find the others like me. The field mice that _He _set loose into the world, the children he observed for progress. We would band together… track him down… and get the vengeance we needed to be able to truly move on. I couldn't stay in the village like I was now… full of hate and hopelessness…

"Come with me. We'll find the others. He'll come for us. And when he does… we'll do what we needed to do when he took our families away from us." He turned towards me again, his mouth parted slightly in surprise.

"How will we find them all…?" he whispered softly.

"I found you, didn't I?" I smiled at him, reaching my hand out towards him. "So let's go search together, Hijino."

He took my hand and smiled back at me. His hair had shifted slightly with the motion, and his eyes had stared into mine with compassion, trust and awe. His eyes were… like emeralds. They glittered with the leaves in the tree, and they surprised me. _Why would he hide his eyes…? _Then I realized that eyes were the gateway to someone's soul. You couldn't hide everything all the time even if you tried. Someone would get you to crack, to show something you didn't want to show. It would leave you defenseless… So he hid behind his hair. He could see others, but they couldn't see him. _Smart, _I praised silently. I tugged him along behind me, heading to our left instinctually.

"Follow me and I'll protect you with my life," I told him.

"Lead me and I'll live to protect you," he said, twisting what I said slightly.

"I'm starting to like you already," I said, grinning as we headed deeper into the forest.

The second ninja we had found a few days later. He had been living with- I kid you not- a posse of rabbits that he had happened to find a week after his encounter with Orochimaru. He wasn't the stocky, skinny type either. He was well built, with short, spiky black hair and blue eyes set in a proud face, strong, and hot headed, but a fairly silent person. He wasn't one to fight with a bear matriarch, either. Strange, their personalities were opposites, but Hijino's personality went more with the second ninja's- whose name we later found to be Morita Souji- body type and vice versa. It amused me to no end when Morita would sit, huge and hulking, surrounded by deer while Hijino would be fighting with boars. Every day there was something that was either extremely hilarious or highly interesting. I was always entertained, and the training was hard and built up skills we never knew we had. Days turned to weeks and weeks turned to months. Soon it had been over half a year since I had left the Leaf Village and found Hijino and Morita. It was also time for the Chuunin exams… Or so I overheard in a village thirty miles away from the Leaf.

"My son Keita is going to be going this year! He's going to become a Chuunin, no doubt about it!" A proud father exclaimed in the diner to another.

"Oh, I don't know about that. My son Heisuke is the strongest out there, but this will be the third time he's taken the exams. It's not that easy," the other said, shaking his head.

"Others have passed the exams, so your son Heisuke is definitely not the strongest out there," the first argued, causing the other to narrow his eyes at him.

"It's just that he's too busy helping weak first timers like your son that he doesn't have enough time to get himself in the clear!"

"You take that back, you know nothing about Keita! He will easily beat Heisuke into dust anytime, anywhere!"

On and on their bickering went, but I tuned out of their raised, outraged voices. No need to be annoyed when I'm eating good food with my close friends, right? Besides… I was focused on the Chuunin exams- the thing that was mentioned slightly in their warring ego battle.

"Hijino, Morita, do you want to try the Chuunin exams and test out our teamwork and the skills we've been working on the past six months?" I asked them, swallowing a delicious morsel of dango.

"Sure! I wouldn't mind, plus we'd be able to meet some new people," Hijino said as Morita nodded.

"I guess I'm heading back then…" I murmured lightly. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Hijino and Morita give me a curious, confused glance but I didn't explain what I said. They'd find out soon enough. Considering I'd enter the village with chakra cuffs on and end up being led to the cells they have there. _That's what I get for leaving the village without permission…_ I thought. I stood up and put down the money to pay for lunch.

"Let's head out, guys. We have an exam to take," I said with a grin.

About a week went by before we made it to the village. We had taken our time, training furiously to prepare for the exams we were going to take. This time, though, we did not only train physically. We honed our intellectual skills, calmed our centers with meditation, and mentally prepared ourselves for what we might have to do. The Chuunin exams could, potentially, end someone's life. Many had actually died during the exams, so we prepared to deal and take death on either side. When you do something dangerous with the potential of something going horribly wrong… you had to prepare for the worst. It made the best that much more sweet, and didn't crush you if the worst actually occurred. Truthfully, we didn't really need to train for the exams at all. I was just… hesitant to return to the village. What if Morita and Hijino were put in cells to for being acquainted with me? They wouldn't back down and submit as easily as I would…

I saw the gates and hesitated, not yet ready to take the last bound that would put us in the view of the gatekeepers. I glanced back at Morita and Hijino, trailing behind me, nervousness creeping into their expression. They saw how antsy and tentative I was and it was putting them on edge. I decided I would tell them why.

"Guys… I don't think I'm very… welcome here. You see, I'm originally from here. I left half a year ago because of…" I trailed off and their eyes narrowed in understanding and anger. "Well, you know. But I didn't clear it with the Hokage first, so technically I'm a rogue ninja… and I'm worried that they'll try to throw you in a cell and you guys will struggle and end up creating… trouble. Just promise you'll be good, okay?" I quickly finished when I saw Hijino try to get a word in.

They shared a look and turned back to me with a sharp nod. They were a bit reluctant to not fight back, I know, but it was for their own good. They didn't need to be enemy ninja of the Leaf Village for something as minor as knowing me. It wasn't fair to them. They didn't know I was a rogue ninja in the first place. I turned back towards the gates and took a deep breath. _Here it goes…_ I thought, taking the final leap into the Leaf Village and heading over to the gatekeepers. They were chatting to one another- the same ones from when I had went to my old home, I realized. I got closer to them and cleared my throat to let my presence be known. They glanced up immediately and blinked in shock.

"Amaya…?" the one on the right said softly, slowly standing up.

I nodded nervously and glanced back towards Hijino and Morita, motioning them forward. "I'm here to take the Chuunin exams with my teammates, Hijino Yuushin and Morita Souji. They're in the same situation as me…" I trailed off as the gatekeepers stiffened and looked behind me.

I slowly turned around, my eyes trailing up from his black sandals… to his white leg guards… to his black shorts and shirt… his white and black arm guards… his longer, darker hair… his pale skin… his onyx eyes widened in shock… My lips slowly formed his name and it rolled off slowly from my tongue.

"Sa…su…ke…"

He quickly walked forward and pulled me towards him, right into the tightest hug I've ever received in my life. My own eyes widened in surprise. He had grown a bit more- about three inches taller than me now. He was still the same, though. Still warm, familiar. Still here, still Sasuke- and probably still set on revenge and not interested in a 'distraction'. I pulled away from him slightly and looked at him, dead in his eyes.

"No distractions, right?" I murmured, watching his eyes darken slightly.

"I… don't know..." he turned away and I pulled myself fully out of his arms. They hung limply at his sides.

"Then… you should figure it out soon. I won't wait for you. I'm not Sakura," I said and turned back towards the gatekeepers who hadn't heard a word Sasuke and I had uttered.

"Do I need a pass or something?" I asked them.

"No, you're still registered as one of our own. They are too, actually," one of the gatekeepers said, motioning to my companions and ignoring Sasuke who still stood there staring at me in confusion and shock. "You should go talk to the Hokage."

I nodded and motioned to Morita and Hijino. "Let's go, it's this way."

Sasuke stared after me without saying a single thing as I walked off. That was the thing about a guy set on vengeance that accidentally got involved with someone who would prove to be a distraction he may not be able to afford. They were so lonely, wanted something that others could easily get- something so normal- yet something they knew they shouldn't have. Not yet. Not until everything that needed to be addressed was straightened out. I knew this, and he did, too. I was going to see which one he was more interested in- to see if I could break the bond he has with his older brother… before it's too late…


	5. Treasure Hunt

_No, you are not dreaming. This is an actual update. Yes, the story is continuing. I've been extremely busy the last few months and a lot of things have been happening in my life that I had to deal with- along with extremely long nights helping with plays, doing sports and tons of homework from all those wonderful honor classes (-.-")- but I can guarantee that there will be a steady flow of updates and a notice for when I won't be updating for a while. So sorry for disappearing on you guys for so long! – Ame_

::~~~~~~~~~~~::  
><em>"Curiosity killed the cat, but it's satisfaction that brought him back."<em>

::~~~~~~~~~~~::

"Hey, you youngsters, what do you say about going on a treasure hunt?"

I stared at the man who was grinning at us from ear to ear like he had lost his mind. Who, in their right mind, would go on a treasure hunt made by _this_ man? His eyes were as sly as a fox's and just as murky brown. The color of his hair was the rusty orange of one, too. In his hands were two scrolls- one red and one blue. The red one read "easy" and the blue read "hard". Different levels for the difficulty of a simple treasure hunt? Something was extremely fishy about the man's offer.

Hijino reached out and grabbed the scroll that read "hard". I opened my mouth to protest but he shook his head, brown hair whipping back and forth. His eyes peered at me from behind his silky wall of protection.

"Why don't we give it a go? I've wanted to do something that might prove to be interesting for a while and it could be something that could potentially test our skills," Hijino reasoned, tossing the scroll back and forth between his hands.

I sighed and shook my head, turning to Morita. He was currently extremely focused on the bird on his shoulder. His blue eyes were extremely determined as they stared into the dark ones of the bird. On and on they stared until Morita began to shake. His eyes watered and began to turn red. His jaw clenched in concentration and he strained to keep his eyes open. The bird hopped closer to him on his shoulder and he blinked. Falling to the ground in defeat, the bird chirped amusedly and flew away, leaving Morita on the ground wallowing in his loss.

"Um… Morita? Were you having a staring contest with that… bird?" I asked slowly, pulling Morita into a standing position.

He nodded and wiped the tears that had begun to fall from the strain on his eyes on the back of his hand.

"Did the bird… ask you to?" Hijino asked behind me, trying to hold in his laughter.

Again, Morita nodded and then turned towards us, eyes swollen and red as if he had been sobbing for hours on end. Hijino broke out into laughter, clutching his sides at the contradiction standing in front of him. To see such a strong, macho guy look like he had been bawling his eyes out for hours was extremely… hilarious. I chuckled along with Hijino before getting a hold of myself and focusing on what I meant to ask him.

"Do you want to go on the treasure hunt?" I asked him, hoping he would say no so we wouldn't have to go through with the fox man's idea of a treasure hunt.

"…" he looked at Hijino, then back at me… then back at Hijino… and once again, back at me.

It seemed that there would be no real answer from Morita- not that he usually gave actual answers. Being such a silent, serious type, there were hardly any times when he said anything. When he did, he provided amazing insight- so obviously he wouldn't waste his precious words for something as simple as a "yes" or "no". _It wouldn't hurt to nod or shake his head, though, _I thought.

"…" Morita nodded, as if he had tuned into my thoughts.

"Okay, then, we won't be- wait, you want to?" I asked, incredulous.

Morita nodded again. I was astonished. If there was one person I could always count on to be in agreement with me, it was Morita. It had surprised me since the beginning of our trio. I had always pegged Hijino as the one most similar with myself- we both didn't attract animals the same way Morita did, we were a bit hot-tempered (him more so than myself), and when it came to strategizing, our minds were usually in sync. Truthfully, though, Morita was a lot closer to me than Hijino. We both had the same exact thought when it came to training schedules, where we would travel to next, what we should train on, our rotation in keeping watch at night and we both enjoyed a good, long, quiet meditation session every morning. We were always in a hundred percent agreement with each other… So why would that change now?

"Why?" I asked, voicing my confusion and desire for a logical reason.

"… We could all use a good stress reliever- we're all so on edge from the intense training, always being on watch and guarded in case there was an unexpected visit from… Orochimaru…" we all tensed at the mention of _him_, but Morita pressed on. "And it would do us some good to calm down and have some fun- plus, it would provide us with an interesting twist in our training regime," he added, bringing up Hijino's previously stated point.

"… I guess… we're going on a treasure hunt, then."

Hijino cheered and the fox man gave us a feral grin.

"Thank you for trying out Foxy Hunting, the latest treasure hunt known to Shinobi! Good luck!" With exaggerated flourish, the fox man went up in a flurry of smoke and disappeared, leaving the scroll with us.

"I still think there's something fishy about that man. He never asked us for any payment…" I trailed off, eyes narrowed.

"Ah, well. Let's just enjoy our unexpected adventure! Besides, how bad can it be? This IS the easy level. We'll just have to be a tad bit more careful, that's all," Hijino said with his usual grin.

I sighed. This was going to be a very exhausting treasure hunt.

"Okay, so we've gone through the forest full of poisonous crocodiles, the haunted Ramen Pit Stop, so next is the… Rickety Water Bridge!" Hijino chirped, skipping past Morita and I.

It sounded bad enough just reading the map. Actually going through a forest full of poisonous crocodiles was insane. How did crocodiles even get to the size of houses? It was near impossible to get through unscathed, but we had managed… somehow. My fear of poison had been grating against my nerves the whole entire time we had been in that forsaken forest. I'd never even heard of a poisonous crocodile before today. It also didn't help that when we got to the haunted Ramen Pit Stop, Morita had frozen up like a statue. Apparently, he was afraid of ghosts- which were actually in the Ramen Pit Stop we had walked through. No one ever mentioned how horrible ghosts were. They would trip you with the legs of chairs, turn out the lights when you needed them most, and make rooms absolutely freezing when we ended up getting locked in a few for a while. They seemed to enjoy torturing the living very, very much. We had finally gotten out of there about twenty minutes ago… and Hijino was raring to go.

"Well, I guess this is your turn to face your fear, Hijino. We'll be with you the whole way," I said, giving him a small smile.

"… Um, you guys were afraid of those things?" he asked apprehensively.

"… Yeah, I'm afraid of poison- hence the poisonous crocodiles. Morita's afraid of ghosts, which we found in the haunted Ramen Pit Stop. Your fear must have something to do with water, right?" I asked.

"Not exactly… it's more of what lurks IN the water."

I glanced at him as he lost some of his energy at the thought of his fear that he would have to face. _Just what was it? Out of all the marine animals… what would it be? Would it even be something that I've ever seen before? _All these questions began to run through my mind as we started down the grey stone path…

A shark? Nope. Maybe a squid? Not even close. A swarm of piranhas? Guess again. Hijino's fear was of…

"A turtle?" I asked, staring down at a rather slow looking tortoise with a multi colored green shell.

"Turtles are horrifying! They're slow and lay eggs and the way they retract everything into their shell… it's disgusting!" Hijino said defensively, cringing away from the "creepy turtle".

I sighed and leaned down, gently lifting the turtle off of the rickety, brown, old bridge in front of us with fraying rope holding it above the river a few feet below us and put the creature down near the grass that it usually fed on. It was near enough to the bank that the turtle could go for a dive if he- or she- had the inclination to do so after chomping down on its dinner. Turning to Hijino, I motioned him forward.

"It's okay now; the turtle is out of the way. Shall we go get that treasure now?" I asked, pushing a few stray red strips of hair out of my eyes.

"Okay…" Hijino inched around the turtle and bolted as fast as he could across the bridge, arriving at the other side in mere seconds.

Morita and I took our time, enjoying the view of the rushing water below us lapping against the rocks that protruded out of the water. Fish swam quickly, darting left and right to avoid the rocks in their path. Sooner than I wanted, we reached the end of the bridge and arrived next to Hijino, who had regained his energy after getting past the terrifying turtle- _who was now swimming down the river along with the fish_, I noticed as I glanced back. With a grin, we set off, flying down the grey stone path. Trees whipped past us and the smell of the rich soil below us and the tree sap surrounding us wafted past my nose. I smiled happily. Being surrounded by nature truly let me feel at peace with myself. It was so… calming.

"Look- there's the clearing where the treasure should be!" Hijino pointed ahead of us where a golden oval of light had been expanding the closer we got to it.

We sped up, feet barely hitting the wood of the branches as we launched ourselves forward, not needing any chakra after all the training we had gone through the last few months. The wind whipped my hair back- out of my face, thankfully. Within seconds we had arrived at the clearing and stepped out. In the very middle of the small clearing of spring green grass and daisies, there was a rather large, brown, wooden box. We walked up to it carefully, wary for any traps that might be set- just because we had reached the goal and gotten past all of the trials leading up to the treasure, that didn't mean that we were safe…

Hijino rubbed his hands together excitedly. "I wonder what's inside…"

Reaching forward, I pulled the box completely open and looked inside and spotted three headbands… with the Leaf Village symbol on them. I gasped and lifted one out, holding it up in the light. It was as if it was telling me something…

"I think we know where we'll be heading next." Morita asked, pulling one out himself and putting it on his forehead.

"The Leaf Village it is, then?" Hijino asked, putting his own on his forehead, pushing his hair out of his eyes as his green orbs gazed curiously into mine.

I looked down at the headband in my hand and watched it glisten as I turned it. Wrapping it around my neck, I grinned at Hijino and Morita.

"I guess so. How about we take our time, training along the way?"

Morita nodded and Hijino grinned. "Well, on we go!"

We headed back towards the village we had begun in before heading out on the treasure hunt to return the _scroll_ to the fox man.

"Well, I guess I've done my job," the man said, putting on his fox mask, standing up on the branch of the tree as he watched a fiery red flame head towards the direction of the village, headband glinting of her neck.

Jumping quickly through the forest heading straight towards the Leaf Village, ANBU cloak billowing out behind him.

"They won't remember this for about a year, though."

Mission Accomplished.

_A/N: Ah, it feels good to return to writing- although it seems I'm a bit rusty with how… fast… this chapter went by. Not as good as I wanted it to be, but it's better than I thought it would have come out! Thanks for reading this! I will be updating again this weekend- hopefully soon, since you all deserve a good update :D Bye for now! -Ame_


	6. Fragmented Part 2

_A/N: And here's that next chapter! :D That you've been waiting forever for because I left you with a majorly uncool cliff hanger… Sorry about that . On with the awesomeness! I just noticed… Amaya's name was never said ONCE in Treasure Hunt. O.o Whoa… weird. Also, just to let you know… I would very, very, VERY much… like… more… reviews. I'm starving from the meager amount of them. My face is all gaunt and bony… TT^TT  
>DISCLAIMER: I really don't own Naruto, or there'd be a lot of angry people… because honestly? We'd probably be at chapter 167 or so right now instead of… what is it, 586? And everyone would probably look like sophisticated stick figures XD That would not be good… I wouldn't be able to tell Ino apart from Deidara then O.o ON WITH THE STORY! :D<span>_

Fragmented Part 2

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"The life of a young warrior is a long and harsh journey. Even more so for the poor souls who wander alone… Searching for parts of themselves they may never find."

::~~~~~~~~~~::

"Well, hello again, Amaya. Nice of you to return to us after such a… long vacation," the Hokage said, turning to face my team and I.

He hadn't changed at all since I had left- his hat was still on, his face as wrinkled, tanned and liver-spotted as always. He seemed a little bit more exhausted, but it was typical for a Hokage- after all, there was a lot of paperwork to go over.

Hijino shifted nervously beside me, eyeing the Hokage warily before glancing at the ANBU stationed in the corner of the room behind us. I reached out and patted Hijino's shoulder, trying to communicate that everything was okay, and that nothing would happen as long as we behaved. He seemed to understand at least some part of what I had tried to tell him through my actions for he calmed down slightly and relaxed. The Hokage glanced at the hand that was still on Hijino's shoulder and I removed it slowly, my arm falling back down to my side.

"It's nice to be back, sir. It's been a while since I've seen so many familiar, friendly faces," I replied sarcastically, glancing outside the building into the streets.

"Yes, well, it's not like they're exactly acting out of the ordinary- you did leave the village," he pointed out and I sighed.

"It's not like I did it before I graduated from the academy."

"Your headband was still here when you left. That is one of the common signs of a shinobi defecting from the village…" the Hokage trailed off when I shook my head.

"I took it- I have it with me right now," I said, pulling said headband out of my pouch and tying it around my neck.

Hijino and Morita pulled their own out and tied them around their foreheads, crossing their arms right after they finished at the same exact time. We were a unit- one in the same. I was the leader. Our actions quickly gave away how our whole team worked, just from the synchronization of Hijino and Morita's actions and the way our headbands were placed. It irked me that I only noticed this now in the presence of the Hokage and the irritatingly silent ANBU behind us with a familiar looking fox mask.

"Well… I guess I'm going to have to make an exception for you three. It seems that we'll just have to put you on probation for a few weeks- up until the Chuunin exams," the Hokage quickly explained as I began to frown worriedly. "No missions, no leaving the village and your training will be monitored by Eimon, the ANBU behind you that you've all been so nervous about."

I glanced at Morita's calm, collected face and didn't know how the Hokage could say that he was nervous about the ANBU- err, Eimon. It was as if he was trying to make a joke about the whole situation. It fell a little flat, what with Hijino being a bit too high-strung and me… it would have been a very awkward delayed reaction that would not have ended well.

"I guess this means more paperwork for me to fill out…" the Hokage sighed and turned his attention to Eimon.

"Please escort them to where they will be staying in the village."

"Yes, sir." With that, Eimon quickly turned and headed to the door, holding it open for us.

We walked out silently, still a little on edge about going somewhere with someone we didn't know. It had been such a long time since any of us had been in a city that we had planned to stay in for an extended period of time. To know that we were getting a home- a home, such a foreign concept after so long in the woods, hotels and tents we lived in such a short while ago- was something that had us extremely nervous and on edge. It meant that there were people that we would see, day after day, and that we would get used to. People who would eventually become our comrades, shinobi we went on missions with, people we would never be able to get away from ever again. It was something that was extremely hard to swallow.

"Your home is an apartment- it's not the best in the city, but it's a shelter, it has all that you'll need and it's cheap and sturdy," Eimon told us, snapping my attention back into my surroundings.

"I'm sure it'll be better than the forest," I heard Hijino say nervously.

"You really lived in the forest? It must have been hard on you all," Eimon said, turning his head towards us.

"It was very calming, actually. I love the forest…" I murmured, walking close behind Eimon.

He nodded and turned back to watch where he was going. He led us up to a green, old, run-down apartment… and it was perfect. It was down to earth and seemed to be flowing with natural energy._ I could get used to this_, I thought. We walked up the stairs, metal clanging with each rickety step. Going past the rooms, we ended up stopping in front of a row of four rooms.

"The first one is already taken by another genin who has no means of taking care of himself, so he's funded by the Hokage. His name is Naruto Uzumaki- he's pretty loud, so if you prefer peace and quiet you won't want to have the room right next to him," Eimon told us, leaning against the railing.

"Then, Morita, you'll have the last one," Hijino and I said at the same time.

Morita nodded as Hijino and I shared a grin. Morita had a pretty hard time tolerating the racket Hijino caused most of the time. Add this Uzumaki kid to that and you'd have one pretty tense and angry Morita. For him, quiet was everything. If it wasn't quiet, he'd probably end up losing his mind…

"I'll take the one next to Uzumaki, then." Hijino walked over and quickly went into his apartment, casting an energetic smile back at me over his shoulder.

I grinned and walked to my apartment room. "Oh, thanks Eimon for taking us here," I said as I turned back to the ANBU man, bowing slightly.

"No problem. Let me know if you need anything, I'll be with the Hokage in his office." With that, he jumped off of the building and darted to said office, hopping from rooftop to rooftop.

I let out a shaky sigh and opened the door to my apartment, shutting the door and locking it behind me. Frowning, I realized I didn't have the key to lock the door when I left. I noted this and reminded myself to go talk to Eimon about this later. Taking off my black sandals, I walked forward into the apartment. It was a simple one bedroom, one bathroom place. The living room and dining room were connected, with a wall in the corner separating the kitchen from the biggest room in the apartment. It was bland in color- everything was grey and brown, with a small potted fern in the corner at the entryway. There was a TV in the living room, a small mahogany table with a couple chairs for the dining table sat a few feet away from the TV. The floors were carpeted with grey carpet. It was… quaint. I liked it. Walking into the bedroom, I saw a blue futon on the ground and an alarm clock next to the head of the bed on the left side. There was another fern in the corner of the room on the opposite side of the alarm clock. A small window on the right side- above the fern- let in a few rays of sunlight.

I returned to the living room and a shining silver object on the table caught my eye. Walking closer, I noticed it was a pair of keys. _Huh, so that's where they left the keys to the apartment. This is a little… abnormal, _I thought. Next to the keys was a brown envelope. Opening it quickly, I pulled out a note and a wad of cash. Reading the note, I grinned.

_**Dear Amaya Hisako,**_

_**It's nice to have you back in the village. Hopefully you plan on staying this time instead of leaving after a few months. The cash in the envelope is for you to buy food and clothing- don't worry about the rent this month, it's already paid for. Next month you'll receive another envelope with cash, but you'll have to pay for all three- food, rent and clothing if you choose to get more. I suggest that you wait until you start getting money from missions before you buy equipment. What you have already should suffice for now. **_

Glancing down at the pack on my hip, I nodded. It was true- there was enough to suffice for now. Sure, a few more shuriken and kunai wouldn't hurt, but it wasn't needed right at the moment. I continued to read where I left off.

_**A few things you should know, though is that Sasuke Uchiha is paired with Sakura Haruno and Naruto Uzumaki for the Chuunin exams. They have a teacher that has recommended them for the exams- Kakashi Hatake. It is true that it is required for genin to be recommended for the Chuunin exams to participate, so you and your team will most likely end up fighting against Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto to prove that you are capable. They're a pretty arrogant team, but they can usually prove what they say they can do, so I'd be wary if I were you. **_

_Naruto Uzumaki? Our neighbor? I guess this provides us with the perfect chance to get to know one of our opponents- Sasuke I already know about. I highly doubt much has changed with him, but just in case… we shouldn't be too hasty. This Sakura Haruno might be someone we have to worry about, _I thought.

_**Training will be restricted to three hours maximum. Eimon will be the one to watch over you all, since you are the most familiar with him out of all the other ANBU officers, and I am sure you will get a little jumpy around others. On another topic… we still haven't recovered them, but we're still looking. It will all be alright, child.**_

_**-The Third Hokage**_

I clenched my fist, crinkling the letter in my hand. They still hadn't been found after the months I had been gone. Of course, Morita, Hijino and I had searched for them every once in a while in between traveling to different towns and villages. We hadn't found them either- not that we should have. Stumbling into what would most likely be Orochimaru's hideout when we weren't truly ready wouldn't be something that would do us any good. We would end up slaughtered or blackmailed into following him. I definitely wouldn't have recovered the bodies… even if he didn't experiment on them yet, which I highly doubted. Sighing, I set the letter down on the table and sat down in the chair nearest to me. I gazed out dazedly across the room.

It was going to take some getting used to- being in a home without Mom or Dad taking care of me. That may have been one of the reasons why I avoided staying in one place for too long. Although I had accepted that they were dead and that there was no way I was going to be able to truly live with them again, there were moments where I forgot. I forgot what had happened, that they weren't here and that my life couldn't have them in it. I forgot that I could take care of myself and didn't need to rely on their warmth and comfort. Some days I woke up in the morning wondering where I was and why Mom hadn't woken me up…

My heart skipped a beat and I grasped at my shirt, wincing in pain. Of course it still hurt to think about them. Why wouldn't it? They had been wrenched out of my life just when things were about to get more interesting. We would have been happy. Chiyoko would have been happy… I felt a hole in my heart. A void that hasn't been patched up or filled yet- I was broken. I had broken into hundreds of pieces that haven't been found. Sure, it wasn't so bad anymore- not with Morita and Hijino around. But my heart was fragmented, and for me to completely move on, I had to be patched together again.

**-Present time in Iwagakure-**

Art was a bang. It was short lived, vibrant, and took your breath away. It would end up engraved in your mind forever, it's after image all you could think about for years. People would speak about it in awe. The bright lights, the huge amount of chaos and destruction, the deafening sound- that was true art. It wouldn't be as treasured if it lasted forever. If it was forever, then you would take it for granted. But something you would only be able to take a glimpse at for a mere moment would stir your heart. If I were to compare true art to something that was forever- it would be your first love and the person you would spend the rest of your life with. Sure, you'd be happy married to that special someone. When you look back at your life, though, the one that will be on your mind is the first person who truly captured your heart. Lingering in the back of your mind, always there, always haunting… that first love.

I held up my newest creation- a butterfly. Its wings were delicate and pure white, as was the rest of it. Little designs that spread out like shattered glass covered the wings. Its body was small and supple-fragile. A quick snap of my fingers and the creation would break to pieces. Tossing it up lightly, it began to flutter its wings and fly around my head, leaving me with a deep sense of joy and satisfaction. Grinning, I guided the butterfly to the center of my workshop and raised my hand, poising my fingers as I always did- First, middle and thumb up and pressed against each other- near my mouth- and the remaining down.

_Art is a bang, _I thought.

"Katsu!"

The butterfly shuddered and burst aflame, pieces of clay falling in all directions. White light, interlaced with hints of blue, enveloped my vision before a plume of brown smoke took over. After a few more seconds, everything had ended. All that remained were a few scraps along the cobblestone flooring. I grinned.

"It was beautiful, yeah. One of the best works of art yet," I murmured, admiring what was left of my handiwork.

Frowning, a prickling sensation coming from somewhere near me- most likely above- I reached behind me, grabbing a bag of clay. Shoving my hand inside, I let my mouth do the work for me. Having mouths on my hands really made the work that I did- and infusing my chakra into my art- a lot easier. Debating for a few moments, I decided that I would create the early stages of the butterfly and pulled my hand out. Forming a fist, the mouth spit out the clay and I molded it into shape with my will. In my hand was a small caterpillar. Putting my hands in the same formation as before, I expanded it and sent it to the corner of the room.

Glass shattered all around me and I covered my eyes with my arm. Warily looking up, golden-orange beams framed a silhouette. A black cape with red clouds outlined in fine lines of white met my gaze. My eyes trailed upward into the face of the person who had broken into my shop, and my mouth dropped open. It was as if God had decided to bless me with his presence. Above me stood a man with silky black hair- _almost as silky as mine_, I noted, red eyes with lazily circling black dots in them, and a calm aura about him. He jumped down from the broken window and landed in front of me.

Shaking my head and pulling myself out of my daze, I quickly created two standard clay birds, sending them flying at him as I jumped back.

"Katsu!" I exclaimed and they exploded around him.

Quickly maneuvering so the caterpillar wound itself around the man while he couldn't see from the smoke, I waited until the smoke cleared so he could see me as the final thing he saw while he was alive. I grinned and raised my hand.

"Art is a bang, yeah. Have fun in Hell!" I opened my mouth to finish him off when he quickly- and smoothly- cut me off.

"You might want to think twice before you do that," he said, causing me to frown angrily as he destroyed some of the climax of what I was about to do.

Glancing down at myself, I noticed that I- to my complete shock- had the caterpillar wound around myself. Glancing back up at the man, I saw empty space before continuing my gaze back to the window. There he stood, like a God, still staring down at me with those red eyes. He had put a genjustu on me, but that surely didn't influence my next thought.

_He… He's amazing… even better than my art, yeah._

"I'm sure you are probably wondering why we are here," he continued, causing me to gasp and look to around the room.

Directly to my left, on the other side of the room, was a man in a similar cloak with blue skin and darker blue hair. He grinned at me, showing teeth as sharp as a sharks'. He even had gills, it seemed. On his head was a headband that had the Village Hidden in the Mist's symbol on it- three curvy, vertical lines… only it was crossed out with one, shaky, thick line. _A traitor to his village_, I thought disgustedly. Glancing back up at the Godly figure, I noticed he, too, had a headband that was crossed out- only his was from the Village Hidden in the Leaves, a swirl with a triangle at the bottom left side of the swirl.

"We are here to recruit you for the Akatsuki. Join or suffer the consequences- which includes losing your… art," he finished.

Glaring at both of them, the caterpillar crawled off of me and onto the floor. With how quickly the man with the red eyes- the Sharingan, I recalled it was called- put me under a genjutsu, it wouldn't take much effort on their part to… get rid of me. _Dammit, yeah!_ I cursed silently.

I glared at the man before me and crossed my arms, flipping my golden hair out of my eyes.

"Guess I don't have a choice, yeah. Fine," I spit out, practically growling at him.

He tossed something at me so quickly I didn't see it- but I put my hand out and caught it. In my hand was my headband and a kunai. Grasping the kunai with one hand and holding the headband in the other, I scrapped a line through the three rectangles that symbolized the Village Hidden in the Stone. I was now a traitor to my village… and part of the Akatsuki.

**-A few hundred miles away from the Hidden Leaf Village-**

"Kabuto… I really miss my Amaya," I said, stabbing a sword into the sniveling man at my feet.

His eyes rolled back into his head and blood poured out of his mouth with a gurgle as he fell to the ground. Pulling the sword out of him, gore and crimson liquid dripping of the end, I flicked it off onto the man that had entered my hideout with the corpse on the ground. The man began to cry silently, the tears making streaks through the blood on his face.

Kabuto, my assistant with grey hair and irritatingly huge spectacles, pushed said glasses up higher on his nose with a gloved hand.

"My Lord, you can always go and get her whenever you wish," he replied.

I sighed, severing the head of the remaining trespasser quickly, blood spurting out as if he had become a fountain. I watched in sadistic amusement as the body fell to the ground, a lake of blood beginning to form at my feet and his head rolled the opposite way, tears still falling down his face even in death.

"Sadly, I have more important things to do right now than drag an unwilling, extremely talented child back here with me. There's a much more willing subject that I've gotten my hands on… a very good vessel." I licked my lips in excitement and stepped over the carnage at my feet.

"Shall we be heading out, Lord Orochimaru?" Kabuto asked me, his glasses reflecting unwanted light at my face.

Stifling the urge to blink and frown in displeasure, I kept my face blank.

"But of course. We have no time to waste."

I walked out of the room, a grin on my face at the prospect of an amazing battle to come…

_A/N: Yay, another chapter down! Deidara, the love of my- I mean… … the love of true art has finally deemed us worthy to show up in the story! This was a surprisingly short chapter for what I usually write when I update, but honestly there wasn't much left to do for the Fragmented chapter except finish some loose ends and let Deidara do his little "fashionably late" appearance. There'll be a lot more of him to come, but I think it'll still be a while before Deidara and Amaya meet… after all, there's some exams to be taken… Not by me this time, thankfully xD I've had enough of those for a while. Now, to go work on the next chapter and see if I can update tomorrow or if it'll be on Tuesday ^.^ Have a good Memorial Day/weekend! -Ame_


	7. Frustration

_A/N: Well, I get the feeling that this is going to be an action-packed chapter! :D What with the… training… and the little skirmish with Team 7… I'm just as excited as you are to see it unfold! :D It's just that… I get to see it first ;) Hahah x3 Anyhow, enjoy the chapter and please, PLEASE review! I need them… they provide me with sustenance and they usually give my story a little bit more of an "oomph!" because I end up in an extremely good mood after just getting a review, let alone reading it. I'm so simple minded… (Teehee, thank you scarecrowscreams for always reviewing almost every chapter :D) –Ame_

_For xXDeiHinaLuverXx123- Hahah, I gave her permission a while ago too xD I'll see what I can come up with for your one-shot, okay? I'll be working on it in between working on this and my next story, so it might take a while for it to come out, but it'll be here within a week and a half ^.^_

_DISCLAIMER: Amegasuki. Has. Nothing. To. Do. With. The. Creation. Of. Naruto. Or else Orochimaru would have been a lot more… creepy-old-guy-that-makes-me-feel-like-there-might-be-a-pedo-moment feeling to him. And that's not cool . *shudders*_

Frustration

::~~~~~~~~~~::

"Frustration and stress is most easily relieved through distractions and a good, long session of swinging fists and punches." –Anonymous

::~~~~~~~~~~::

A knock at the door pulled me out of my musings. Standing up and giving myself a stern, quick lecture about thinking of something I couldn't solve, I headed towards the door. Looking through the peep hole, my eyes met the familiar brown hair that belonged to Hijino. With a small smirk about being able to hold the power over whether he got into my apartment or not, I took my time undoing the lock and opening the door- just a crack, though. He seemed slightly irritated about everything I had just done, and it made my smirk widen.

"What's up, Hijino?" I asked lightly, amused.

"I was wondering if you wanted to go train with Morita and me now…" he trailed off as I quickly ran away from the door and came back within a few seconds.

In my hand was my pouch full of my weapons, bandages, and medical equipment that was useful for basic things such as cuts and broken bones. Around my neck was my headband, which I had placed back on after taking it off from arriving in my apartment. My white and green jacket that I had found in the closet was on me as well- over my standard white tank top and green skort that seemed to be the uniform the people who filled my closet wanted me to wear. Quickly slipping on my sandals I walked out the door and Hijino moved to make room for me. Locking the door I turned and looked at Hijino.

"You came to get me first instead of getting Morita?" I asked him.

"Well your room is closer and Morita will say yes as long as we both agree. I didn't lie," he defensively said, noticing the slight disapproval in my eyes.

"Who knows if he'll say yes? It's not guaranteed. He might have something else he needs to do instead this time. Don't just drag him into things without checking first," I lightly scolded him, heading over to Morita's apartment.

"Okay, okay, I won't do it again Boss," Hijino sighed behind me and I giggled.

_Boss. I could get used to the sound of that, _I thought with a grin. I knocked softly on Morita's door and it opened right as I pulled my hand back. Morita peered down at Hijino and I and I smiled up at him.

"Do you want to go train with us?"

Slowly, he nodded and went back in, keeping the door open and motioning for us to head on inside. I glanced at Hijino and we shared a grin, entering at the same time. His apartment was similar to mine- actually, as I looked around curiously I realized that they were exactly the same. _Well, it'd only be natural- this is an apartment, and if the rooms weren't the same it would make some of the residents kind of irate with the landowner… _I thought. Morita came back out of what I assumed was his bedroom, considering that our rooms were exactly the same and that was where mine was placed, carrying both his pouch of weapons… and the bird that had been on his shoulder before we started the treasure hunt.

"How did the bird get all the way here?" Hijino asked, mouth agape.

"… It followed us... We could use her as a scouting bird after training her, if we wanted…" he replied slowly, letting the bird hop onto his shoulder.

"W-well then, shall we go?" I asked shakily, astonished that the bird had been able to follow us the whole entire trip to the Hidden Leaf Village.

Morita nodded, and we all headed towards where the training grounds were, with me leading the way. It seemed that the village hadn't changed that much since leaving, considering everything was still in the same place.

"He really wasn't kidding about us being monitored as we train…" I murmured, staring at Eimon who was sitting in the tree above us silently.

"Of course he wasn't, you all were missing nin for quite a long time- even though it is highly unlikely you all could be spies," Eimon began to explain. "It's only natural that you all would be monitored and that training would be limited. You all have 3 hours. You might want to start soon."

Sighing, I turned back to Morita and Hijino, who were eyeing Eimon wearily. Shaking my head and pushing my hair out of my eyes, as the action made all of my hair decide to block my vision, I motioned towards Morita.

"Well, let's get going. Taijutsu first, since we aren't as good at that as our ninjutsu and genjutsu. Then we'll switch to genjutsu the next hour and ninjutsu the last, unless either of the first two need some serious work. We'll all switch in twenty minute intervals. Morita, Hijino- you two will fight first. Then Morita and I, since he has a little trouble keeping up his endurance and stamina. Then it'll be me and you, Hijino. We'll decide on the genjutsu after we've finished this hour. Okay guys, go at it," I strategized, heading over to the tree that Eimon was in and leaning against it, watching as Hijino and Morita began to train.

Morita's fighting style for taijutsu was to aim for disabling the most important parts of his opponent. First he would go for the person's arms, of course- and for the main one, too. Hijino happened to be left handed, something that most ninja weren't. Of course he could still function just as well with his right hand, he just preferred to use his right. It was more… comfortable. Morita, knowing this, immediately aimed a punch at Hijino's right side, knowing Hijino would most likely block with his left. As Hijino did as Morita predicted, he quickly grabbed that arm and twisted it slightly, inflicting a small amount of pain on Hijino. They both separated and Hijino tied his arm behind his back with some rope that he had in his pouch.

The thing is, when we trained, we made sure not to actually disable or severely injure our teammates, as they were our only training partners. We did the actions that would lead up to the disabling, and when it was obvious to both of the fighters- whether it was Hijino and Morita, Hijino and I or Morita and I- we would make it so we couldn't use the part of us that would have been taken out. It made training that much more difficult for us, and showed us what would happen- and how dangerous- it was to get into these situations. Hijino almost always did the same thing, and was always the first one to become disabled- which was deadly in battle. That is why he usually fought first and last, to reflect on what actions he does and practice not having those reflexes all the time- alternating in a random order to keep the opponent guessing. He almost always lost the ability to use his arm in each taijutsu battle, though.

As time went on and the twenty minute mark was almost up, Hijino had lost his left arm, his right leg, three fingers on his right hand and his left ankle. Morita wasn't that much better- his right hand was completely useless, his right knee was out of the picture and his left eye was, figuratively, gone. Not only that, but he was beginning to tire. Morita was definitely not someone who would last long in a long battle- after about three and a half hours he was pretty much dead meat. He had slowly been improving, though- in the beginning, he could only last about thirty minutes.

Hijino and Morita went at each other again, tied up interestingly and Morita with his left eye closed, and kicked at each other, biting and swinging their arms- err, arm in Hijino's case- as hard as they could at each other, and rapidly. Hijino had a bit of an upper hand since he was smaller and a lot faster, but his strength was lacking. Not only that, but Morita was so big that his attacks were a little… less powerful when going against all of Morita's hard muscle. After a few more kicks and swings, Hijino got kicked hard in the stomach and he flew backwards, quickly flipping backwards and landing on his feet, although not gracefully. I stood up and stretched- the twenty minutes were up.

"Time for a five minute break and then a switch- you both need it, both of you are completely starving and parched. There's water in my bag and a few sandwiches, help yourselves," I said, a canteen of water in my own hand.

Morita and Hijino, panting, quickly undid all their knots and ties and headed straight for the bag, pulling out the water and two sandwiches each. I leaned back against the tree, closing my eyes. The way we were going, our training was definitely efficient. Through those twenty minutes, Hijino had started to rely on his right side more- in fact, he had practically been throwing his right side at Morita, and using those feints to attack harshly with his left side. Morita had been pacing himself well, and had used only as much force as necessary when he was attacking, reserving more of his energy.

"You guys are improving a lot," I praised them, smiling as they grinned at each other.

"Of course we are, you're a wonderfully strict and nice coach!" Hijino exclaimed, his green eyes wide and glittering with adrenaline and excitement from fighting.

Morita nodded in agreement, his own blue eyes slightly brighter than usual. I heard a cough from above me and looked up into the fox masked face of Eimon. He jumped down next to me and put his hand on my shoulder.

"They're right- I've never seen any of the genin- or chuunin, for that matter- train like this. Tying yourselves up whenever it was apparent that you would have been disabled in any way would force you to realize that it was a dangerous situation, and make you quickly think of other ways of fighting to make it so your opponent would come out worse for wear than you would and eventually lose the fight… it's simply brilliant, and so simple at the same time," Eimon praised me, causing my cheeks to turn slightly pink. "Where did you come up with this idea?"

"Um… I had been doing it ever since I was little after hearing stories from my… parents… about the many battles they've fought and the mistakes they made that almost cost them or their comrades their lives… and so, I decided that if there were handicaps in my training then it would sort of be like the situations they had been in and I could learn from them and prepare for real fights with enemy shinobi," I explained, shifting nervously from foot to foot.

I didn't really like explaining my ideas to people I didn't know very well. It made me feel like… I was giving away secrets that needed to be protected. Sure, it was perfect for when I was with complete strangers and would hopefully hold up in torture situations, but it was kind of hard to do when I was with people that I knew and were higher up than me… and posed no (known) threat to me.

"That was extremely smart. No wonder you did so well in the Academy," Eimon said, ruffling my hair.

It felt… weird, annoying and strange… but it wasn't exactly unpleasant. _This must be what it would feel like if an older sibling did this to me, _I realized quickly. Hijino and Morita grinned at me, proud to know that the person Eimon had been praising was their one and only team leader. It made me happy to know that they were so proud to have me lead them and direct them. They were the most loyal shinobi I had ever met in my life- and they were on my side. It warmed my heart.

Suddenly, I felt a tingle of a disturbance in the air around me. A shinobi was nearby, and it wasn't someone I knew. Glancing around, tensing slightly into a defensive stance, I moved forward slowly. There wasn't a killing intent from the chakra… it was more like… curiosity. I stood straight and turned to my left, staring at the faint orange and pink shades within the bushes.

"Come out, I know you're there. You aren't hiding very well- well, at least, the one in the orange and… the pink haired… … Sakura? Looks like you haven't gotten better at anything since I left," I sighed, putting a hand on my hip.

_Great. Just great. My first day back in the village and I have to deal with Miss Wanna-be-know-it-all. She's probably still infatuated with Sasuke. _I snorted. The kunoichi in this village really needed to shape up if they were going to do anything in this village as shinobi. Fawning over the local heartthrob would get them nowhere except to a quick and extremely painful death in the future.

The orange and pink bodies moved out of the bushes, heading towards us. Sakura hadn't changed at all since I left- she was still arrogant, rude, long-haired, and fawning over Sasuke. I could tell by just looking at her. Her eyes still held the same contempt for me, and when she looked over at Sasuke who had come down from the tree above them where he was hiding, her green eyes were filled with awe and adoration. _And she really is dense. If he hadn't responded when they were little, that wouldn't change now. Especially with Itachi completely enveloping his every thought, _I rationalized. Obviously, Sakura lacked the logic and reason that I held. Sometimes I feared for my gender, I really did. Not even her outfit had changed- it was still the annoying, red Chinese-style dress with white lining, black leggings that only went to her knees and a bandage on the right side holding… probably her soldier pills, since she wasn't too stupid, and her blue sandals. Not that she didn't look good in what she was wearing, it was just… it seemed like it wasn't the most efficient thing to be wearing while fighting.

"Yeah, it's nice to see you again, too, Amaya," she said snottily.

"When did I say it was nice to see you? It isn't. You're still infatuated with Sasuke, who I know for a fact won't ever return your fickle feelings, you're still rude and arrogant- which I highly doubt that you should be, considering how weak you are- and you're still lacking logic and reason. You make me fear for the future of my gender. Why would it ever be nice to see someone as idiotic as you? You really frustrate me."

She glowered at me and quickly pulled out her kunai, rage enveloping her green eyes in a very weak, puny, candle sized flame in the background. This girl seriously needed some help. She wasn't threatening at all. I shook my head and rolled my eyes.

"Hey! Don't talk about Sakura like that! She'll beat you to a pulp, believe it!" the orange and blue wearing blonde next to her shouted at me.

I eyed him. He wasn't very tall- almost the same height as Sakura. His blonde hair was spiky and bright- just like his outfit. His eyes were a deep blue that were on the opposite side of the spectrum as Morita's, who had more of a powdery white-blue pair of eyes. On his face were six… whisker-like marks, three on his left cheek, the other on his right. All of them were evenly spaced. His loud orange and blue jumpsuit had a red swirl left shoulder and possibly one on his right. He also wore a pair of blue sandals and a bandage holding- hopefully, the kid didn't look too bright- a pack of soldier pills on his left thigh.

"You must be Naruto Uzumaki… right?" I asked him.

He grinned at me and pointed at himself with his thumb right in the middle of his chest. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki! I love instant ramen and the ramen at Ichiraku Ramen! I'm going to be Hokage someday! Believe it!" he announced.

"Thanks… for giving us an introduction that wasn't exactly necessary, Naruto. I could tell it was you from the outfit you're wearing. Only loud and obnoxious people would dare to dress in… orange and blue. How do you expect to blend in with the shadows for surprise ambushes? That's why you were spotted so easily. And I wouldn't be so quick to say pinky over there could beat me with her mediocre hiding skills. She's just as bad as you," I rolled my eyes at the duo of idiots.

"Hey! I'm the strongest genin in this whole village! Believe it!" he shouted at me.

"… I'm really scared for this village, then," I replied, shaking my head. "You really just insulted all other genin by saying that- a squirrel has better camouflage than you. Apparently you really don't believe in hiding when you're supposed to."

Naruto inhaled sharply and opened his mouth to shout random words and sentences that probably didn't make sense together and slap a "believe it" at the end when Sasuke, who had been standing silently off to the side, quickly interrupted. "Naruto, everything she said is true. You're really an idiot and Sakura wouldn't stand a chance against her."

Sakura gazed at him, eyes filled with hurt and shame as she looked down at the ground and nudged the dirt with her foot. Naruto glanced over at Sakura and his eyes held a tinge of sadness and concern before he turned angrily on the black and white Sasuke. Seriously, he was black and white- his hair, eyes, shirt, shorts and sandals were all black. Everything else was either pale- his skin- or white- his bandages.

"Don't talk about Sakura like that! She's a lot stronger than you make her seem! Believe it!" Sakura glanced up at Naruto in surprise before a small smile formed on her face.

"Naruto… thank you-" she started, but then Naruto said something stupid that I had been expecting.

"I mean, sure she's a lot weaker than us and most likely this… uh… this girl, but she's not the weakest out of everyone in the village! She's, like, the second! So-" he was cut off by a fist slamming into his cheek.

"You're an idiot, Naruto! Channaro!" Sakura yelled as she smashed her fist into Naruto's head again.

"Ow! Sakura, cut it out! What did I do?" he whined, holding the back of his skull and his cheek as they both began to swell.

"Hmph!" she turned away from him, arms crossed and nose in the air.

"Idiot," Sasuke muttered.

I sighed. This was a pretty dysfunctional team they made. It would be all too easy for my team to beat theirs in the battle the Hokage had planned. My eyes widened slightly and I took another look at them. They were well rested, chakra most likely completely restored from whatever activities that they had partaken in the day before and energy levels up to par. It was the perfect condition to leave on a mission, train, or spar… well, considering our case, it was more of a free-for-all battle.

"So why exactly where you all here spying on us?" I asked them.

"We wanted to see your fighting style, but you all stopped before we got here-" Naruto, once again, got punched in his face.

"Shut up, Naruto!" Sakura exclaimed, her face flushed.

Sasuke's eyes darkened and glinted dangerously as he glanced over at Naruto, who was on the ground whining yet again. _Since they're this well, that must mean that we'll be fighting… will it be right now, though? _I wondered.

"So you guys are here for the battle, huh? Are we going to start immediately or…?" I asked them.

"Huh? Wh-what battle? I have no idea what you're talking about!" Naruto began to laugh nervously.

"There's no point in acting like we don't know now, dobe," Sasuke groaned, rolling his eyes. "Sometimes I wonder how a person could survive being as stupid as you." He shook his head and turned his attention to us. "Yeah, we're here for the battle. We'll give you all ten minutes to recover a bit from the training and then we'll hurry up and get this over with. Be prepared to lose- I'm plenty strong enough to cover for these two. They're not too bad, either, though."

"Hey! I don't need to be covered for! Believe it!" Naruto exclaimed, jumping to his feet.

Sakura grinned as Sasuke acknowledged her subtly and then turned to me, glaring slightly with a smirk on her face. _Oh, so she assumed that since Sasuke praised her a bit- when basically he had been saying that they were average- that she could easily defeat me, huh? Well, she's going to get a pretty rude awakening_, I thought with a grim smile sent her way.

"Alright, sounds good. Morita, Hijino, don't eat anymore- you don't want it coming back out from exertion… well, not that it would occur, but better safe than sorry, no?" I told them, smiling innocently.

They nodded and Hijino put on his trademark, cocky smirk, brushing some of his hair out of his eyes. His headband glinted when the sunlight hit it and momentarily blinded me. I closed my eyes and listened to my surroundings, making sure I memorized how everyone's body sounded as they shifted and roamed about, differentiating friend from future-or current, in Sakura's case-foe. I opened my eyes and noticed that Hijino, Morita and I were dressed in the same colors as if we already had an outfit picked for the team. Morita was wearing a green shirt- the same color as skort and my jacket- and white shorts. Hijino sported a white shirt, a green jacket and khaki colored shorts. Overall, we were a pretty good looking team- and our outfits were perfect for our fighting styles. Grinning, I counted down the remaining seconds before our team would immediately go into action.

_10… 9… 8… 7… 6… 5… 4… 3… _I shifted slightly, aiming my body towards Sakura without looking at her. _2… 1… _

"Time to get going-" Sakura started before I cut her off with a punch of my own to her stomach.

She doubled over, gasping for air but I quickly kneed her in the face, knocking her backwards. She clumsily did a backwards flip and I raced towards her, kunai out and poised, jumping up at the last possible moment. The sun behind me and blinding her as she looked for me, I threw the kunai directly into the middle of her chest hard, purposefully missing any vital organs. She went up in smoke and a log was left in place. _Substitution, huh…? Not too bad, but still academy level skills, _I thought, glancing to my right when I knew she was to my left to lure her out of hiding. It worked perfectly and I quickly turned to her, forming signs and performing a genjutsu so fast that it rivaled the speed of Sasuke's Sharingan, which he was currently trying to put on Hijino.

I watched them idly, noticing how Hijino continued to drive Sasuke back towards the forest and I allowed a grin to grace my face_. So, Hijino was going to perform some wood and water ninjutsu, huh? Perfect for that fire/lightning user_, I thought. Turning, I watched as Morita lifted shadow clone after shadow clone of the obnoxious Naruto and threw him into tree after tree almost effortlessly. Soon there was only the real Naruto left, and Morita was on him within seconds. A fierce battle of taijutsu emerged as the two went at it in the middle of the clearing.

I glanced down at Sakura, who was beginning to shudder and twitch from the genjutsu I had put her under. I grinned, thinking about the chaos she was probably going through and the torturous scene she was watching…

**Amaya ran towards me, her fierce amber eyes glinting with a malicious, violent, bloodthirsty intent as she threw kunai after kunai at me. Dodging and parrying as many as I could, I leapt backwards, keeping most of my attention on her as I glanced over at Sasuke to make sure he was okay. He was quickly beating down the brown haired guy, finishing him off with a hard kick to the head. I grinned. They were no match for Sasuke. **

'_**Damn right! Sasuke is the best! Cha!' **_**my inner persona exclaimed, cheering and rooting for him.**

**I glanced back at Amaya as I landed, watching her warily as she stood staring at me, grinning. No, I realized after sensing a presence behind me, she was grinning at someone **_**behind**_** me. Turning my head, I saw Sasuke and blushed as he pulled me flush against him.**

"**S-Sasuke…? We're in the middle of a fight…" I said, not really against what he was doing.**

"**I know," he murmured, his breath fanning against my neck and I blushed even more.**

"**I need to beat Amaya…" I trailed off as I looked forward and noticed that she wasn't there anymore. **

**Glancing around, I noticed her pressed up against a tree… with Sasuke's arms around her, holding her close. She met my gaze, her golden, sickly-sweet eyes holding a hint of amusement and contempt towards me. Then she looked back up at Sasuke as he leaned down and… and…**

**Kissed her. Right on her mouth. **

**I gasped and my heart shattered as I stared at the two, Sasuke's black hair mingling with Amaya's crimson hair, both of their eyes closed and their lips moving in synchronization. Amaya's hands wrapped around his neck as Sasuke put one of his at her waist and the other tangled in her hair. A tear fell down my cheek, quickly followed by another. **

"**Let go of me Sasuke! Get away from her! She doesn't even really like you!" I shouted, the pain in my heart spreading throughout my body.**

**Suddenly, Amaya and the real Sasuke stood before me, their hands linked together. In their hands were kunai and they shared a look before glancing back at me. Sasuke pulled Amaya closer to him and they both raised their hands, burying their kunai into my stomach. I screamed and coughed up blood, tears streaming down my face.**

"**I told you that you wouldn't be able to beat her," Sasuke said from both behind me and in front of me.**

**The Sharingan was activated in his eyes as he stared down at me with loathing, the tomoes spinning quickly. He glanced down at Amaya, smiled at her and gave her a peck on the cheek. The love in his eyes that he held for her as he stared at her hurt me worse than the kunai protruding from my stomach.**

"**No, Sasuke, don't do this," I pleaded, blood falling from my lips onto the grass.**

"**You're weak and a hinderance to me. All I need is Amaya- she keeps me on my toes. I don't need a team, anyway. Besides, Amaya's willing to go to Orochimaru with me. We're leaving this village right now. No one will be able to stop us. Bye, Sakura," he told me with a wicked grin, reaching forward and **_**turning **_**the kunai in my stomach. **

**I screamed again, struggling against the shadow clone that held me still as Sasuke and Amaya quickly ran into the forest, leaving me behind while getting tortured by the hurtful whispers from the shadow clone holding me and the kunai he began to slowly insert into my back…**

Sakura stopped twitching and laid still as stone on the ground. She had been fully taken over by the genjutsu. _She's so… weak. That wasn't even my strongest or most convincing genjutsu, _I thought, frowning at her form on the ground. I glanced back up to see that Morita had Naruto almost completely finished and that Sasuke was panting harshly, drenched and trapped in a wooden cage, Sharingan glaring uselessly at the grinning Hijino as he danced around laughing.

"Some prodigy you are. Have you really been training at all? You're nothing compared to our level- I'm the weakest one out of the whole team, and you got beaten within the first thirty minutes! Hah!" Hijino chirped happily, smiling the whole entire time.

_Seems like we're going to win this pretty easily, _I thought, glancing over at Eimon who was watching us all silently from his perch.

"Enjoying the show, Eimon?" I asked him, waking over to him slowly.

"You guys… are really efficient as a unit," he said slowly, glancing down at Sakura on the grass.

"Genjutsu," I said as he glanced at me in what I thought was a curious way- it was hard to tell with the mask.

"That was quick," he replied in a surprised tone.

"Yup," I said smugly.

"As soon as those two are done, I'll proclaim you-" he was cut off from a groan from Naruto.

"You win, alright? Now stop throwing me around already!"

"Well, you guys passed with flying colors. Maybe we should have you go against the other three teams…" Eimon mused, walking over to Sakura to poke her gently and wake her up from the genjutsu.

"SASUKE NO!" She got up, screaming and crying.

"I'm over here, you idiot," he hissed angrily as Sakura looked over at him, bawling her eyes out.

_Well, that was fun!_ I thought.

_A/N: And that was really fun to write. I just love picking on Sakura, she's always kind of annoyed me. It always seemed like she was doing things half-heartedly and focusing more on Sasuke and what he was doing than anything else. It really pissed me off… so I consider this revenge! I'll probably end up updating around Friday, so be ready! It's time to fight the Rookie 9! :D_


	8. Determination

_A/N: Sorry I didn't update Friday… I had gotten a really high fever Thursday morning and started hallucinating later on. Can't very well type up the next chapter when my laptop looked like a black hole that was swallowing my arm up. It was very Deidara like x3 Speaking of which… What's this? He's going to be in this chapter? NO WAY! *kicks Ame out and gets on with the story*_

_That one guy: Um… xD Sorry, all the online translators I've found SUCK so… I think your question was something about did the baby die in the second chapter…? Yes… sadly, she did- but it's important to the plot later on in the story._

_To feathered moon wings: I do not mind at all if you review :D It makes me happy! Hahah, Eimon is someone that I've pictured as a bit of a funny man. Keeps the situations from being too serious._

_DISCLAIMER: Don't own Naruto. Readers: :D Deidara, you're here! (Me: Apparently no one cares about this much since they all know blondie's gonna be here…)_

_**Danna: something similar to Master.**_

_**Sensei: teacher (in this case, anyway. It could also mean Doctor in some cases.)**_

Determination

::~~~~~~~~~::

"Sometimes the key to moving on is having the will to admit you have to move on, and the determination to continue down the path of healing." – Anonymous

::~~~~~~~~~::

_**-In a base near Amegakure-**_

"Hey, wake up pretty boy!" a loud voice shouted in my ear.

I jumped away immediately, hands darting into… empty space. Eyes widening, I glanced down. My bags containing my clay weren't there anymore. Growling in frustration, I straightened out and took in my surroundings. I was in what looked like a cavern- the walls were completely made of stone and the ceiling appeared damp. It was extremely dark inside, as well. Not only that, I was surrounded by people in black cloaks with red clouds. Grinning, I put my arms behind my head as my eyes trailed across the shinobi that would now be my partners in crime.

"How's it going, yeah?" I asked them all, grin widening into a smile.

Silence met my question but I didn't mind. I knew my bipolar attitude was a bit hard to take in and took some getting used to. Heck, even I had some trouble understanding myself.

"Deidara of Iwagakure- you will be escorted to your room by Sasori, your partner. There you will find your Akatsuki cloak and ring. You must wear the ring at all times. The cloak should always be worn on important missions or outings. No exceptions. You will be introduced to everyone when they feel like introducing themselves to you. All you need to know right now is that I am Pein, and that you may address me as Leader-sama," a deep, gravelly voice said from behind me.

Turning, my gaze met that of a lavender-grey glare. There were many rings inside the person's eyes- the infamous Rinnegan, said to have been the Sage of the Six Paths. _For such a person to be here… and as the leader of the Akatsuki… _I grinned. Maybe joining the Akatsuki wouldn't be so bad. It'd give me plenty of time to work on my art, at least.

"Disperse," Pein- _Leader-sama, yeah_, I corrected myself- seemed to shimmer and fall apart in front of me.

_A… fake body…? No, it wasn't a normal jutsu… what was that? A projected body? I've never seen such a thing before… _I frowned, not liking the lack of information in my current situation.

"Hurry up," a figure behind me called and I turned, spying a hulking shadow near what seemed to be a hallway.

I jogged over to the person, irritated as my hair fell into my face. Tossing it over my shoulders and grabbing a hair tie off of my wrist; I quickly tied my hair up and put it out of my way. Except, of course, for the bangs that covered my scanner that let me see the chakra that people emitted were left alone and kept out of the ponytail- I needed that. Enemies didn't need to know that I knew what moves they were going to make based on the amount of chakra they summoned up.

"You must be Sasori, yeah-" I started before I was cut off.

"I don't like waiting," the deep, gravelly voice continued.

A short, large body began to slowly move forward and I frowned slightly, shaking my head. "For someone who doesn't like waiting, yeah, you move pretty slowly," I remarked.

There was a sharp object against my neck. Liquid began to drip onto my skin. A grin, once again, lit up my face. Adrenaline kicked in and I was ready for a fight- and ready to flee, just in case it got too out of hand.

"You annoy me, brat. Shut up and just follow me before I make you into true art." The sharp object pressed harder against my skin.

"I bet you don't even know what true art is, yeah."

"True art is eternal and everlasting. You watch it and observe it year after year, treasuring it," he said, pulling the sharp object away from my neck.

I wiped the liquid from my skin off with my sleeve, laughing. I laughed harder than I had in months. I could feel the irritation radiating of Sasori in waves. Knowing this made me laugh even harder. I didn't exactly know why I was laughing so hard- but I just couldn't stop. Maybe it was because his idea of true art was the exact opposite of mine, and therefore, it was as wrong as he could ever get. Maybe it was because as he had been talking about true art he had pulled his weapon away from me, allowing his enemy to escape which went against all shinobi's instincts. Whatever it was, it was extremely hilarious to me at this point.

"Your ideas of true art are completely preposterous, yeah," I started, feeling him stiffen in anger. "How in the world do you expect someone to treasure something that will always be there? No, art is something that is finite and is the most beautiful, breathtaking thing you'll ever see- and sometimes even feel- in your life, yeah. It is there one instant and gone the next. Art is a bang, yeah."

"… Hah. The ideals of youth never seem to ever hold any true meaning. Not everyone can see something that is there one instant and gone the next. No, true art is admired by all. Something you can rely on, and gaze upon until the very end of your short, pointless life," Sasori told me, moving forward again at his slow, contradicting pace.

"Oh, so you're an old geezer, yeah? No wonder your idea of true art is so preposterous," I said, grinning.

"I highly doubt you even know what preposterous means, brat."

I glared at the hulking shadow's back. It was one thing to argue about what true art was- which was entertaining, in a way. It was a completely different thing to believe that I was an idiot. I already had a hard time since I was blonde and a little… feminine and bipolar. _No one makes fun of my intelligence, yeah. I'm a strategist through and through. There's no room for idiocy in my profession, yeah, _I thought, my hands once again returning to the clay pouches at my sides… which weren't there. I remembered that they had been taken away from me and I grinned. _This'll make for an interesting fight, yeah._

"Of course I know what preposterous means, Sasori-_danna*_," I started in a sing-song voice. "It means outrageous, unbelievable, absurd- you know, the things that you were spouting earlier, yeah. Something about… eternal crap? Like dead, rotting bodies- those last forever but they sure do stink and look disgusting, yeah. Is that your art? You really have a twisted mind then, Sasori-danna, yeah."

"Do you want to die so quickly, you reckless, idiotic child?" his voice was dark and full of malicious intent.

"Sorry, old man, but I don't plan on dying without going out in a bang, yeah. Since I don't happen to have any clay on me, I'm going to have to say no to that offer of yours. Maybe some other time, after you work out and train those fragile muscles and bones of yours, yeah. Don't want you breaking a hip in the middle of a fight," I said, dodging the object that had been pressed against my neck earlier as it swung towards me.

"You're lucky that I like to torture my victims before they die so I can turn them into true art or you'd be dead right now."

Grinning, amused at how easy it was to piss off someone who proclaimed that true art lasted forever- _how could someone come up with crap like that? Must be a senile, old geezer thing_, I reasoned- I put my arms behind my head and followed Sasori to the end of the tunnel. He turned to the left and opened a door, revealing a cold, dimly lit room full of… wooden parts? For… puppets? I shook my head. Puppets were true art?

I nearly started laughing again before I spotted the cloak and the ring on the bed near the wall. Quickly becoming grim, I put on the cloak and the ring, sighing softly.

"Wrong finger- it's supposed to be on your right index finger," Sasori told me.

Rolling my eyes, I put it where he told me to, eyeing it in distaste. It wasn't a nicely crafted piece of work- it had scratches and was purple and green where the kanji for… green… sat. _This isn't very original, yeah, _I thought, eyeing the white band.

"It was much easier having Orochimaru as my partner… at least he believed that immortality was the best as well."

"Maybe you insisting on that bullshit made him leave, yeah," I mused.

"I'm really going to kill you." I grinned.

"Good luck with that, Sasori-danna."

::~~~~~~~~~~~::

_**-Back in the Leaf Village-**_

Sakura continued to glare at me as I walked over to Sasuke and motioned for Hijino to let him out of the cage. He obliged with an eager grin, laughing as Sasuke landed on his butt. I hid a smirk behind my hand as I faked a small cough. Holding out a hand to him to help him stand up, I noticed that he was staring away from me with a frown on his face.

"Are you going to continue sitting there or are you going to get off of your butt…?" I asked.

He turned to glare at me before reluctantly grabbing my hand and letting me help him up. I knew he wasn't able to stand up on his own- he was too exhausted from fighting against Hijino. His pride was wounded, too- but he made sure to push my hand away after he was standing and slowly moved towards a tree to lean against it, brooding in silence.

I shook my head, turning to see that Morita had helped Naruto stand up as well, which put a grin on my face. Naruto was a pretty nice guy- although he was an idiot. The whole entire time he had been fighting Morita, he had gone full out, of course, but… it was a friendly match- he had been grinning and shouting out energetically the whole entire time. It was kind of similar to Hijino, but… if I were to compare them, Hijino would be a sunflower- bright, but nothing compared to Naruto's exuberance, which was as if he was the sun itself. As I mulled over this, Naruto had high-fived Morita and declared him a new friend and a new training partner.

Reluctantly, I walked over to Sakura and helped her up as well, although if she had had the ability to do so, she would have slapped me away and stormed off on her own. As it was, just standing had her legs trembling hard. I sighed.

"Put your arms straight out in front of you and bend down to touch your toes. Hold it for about a minute and you'll feel a bit better. Also, try to relax and… calm down," I said slowly, standing in front of me.

She glared at me ferociously and didn't move to do what I said. Instead, she tried to walk towards Sasuke which resulted in her falling to the ground after a few steps and embarrassing herself. I walked over to her to help her up again. Tears began to fall down her face as I helped her up and I winced guiltily.

"Sakura… I'm sorry, that was kind of cruel of me. But you should have realized it was a genjutsu immediately- isn't that what you excel in?" I asked her as she brushed away her tears of frustration.

"Yes, but… it seemed so real, and it made sense. Sasuke hasn't been the same ever since you've been gone- or since you showed up in his life. He's torn between his obsession with becoming stronger and you," she whispered brokenly. "I can't compete with you if he really does-" I cut her off.

"Do I really strike you as someone who would throw away my future to be with someone and go to Orochimaru, of all people?" I asked angrily. "He killed my family. I'm sure you've figured that out by now."

She nodded silently, biting her lip. I sighed and shook my head. Moving, I stood right in front of her and put my hands on her shoulders.

"Listen to me, Sakura. You need to shape up. Become strong for yourself, not for Sasuke, or it will have no meaning in the future. You're smart- when your feelings aren't blocking out what your mind is telling you. I mean, you were out after five minutes in a simple genjutsu! You know you're better than that," I shook her lightly, trying to make her understand what I was saying.

"But… I'm weak. I'm not like Naruto or Sasuke- I always have to be protected-"I shook my head.

"You have so much potential. You have extremely good chakra control- it comes naturally to you. Use it. There are so many jutsus and techniques that you can master that they can't because of chakra control. I could spend a lot of time telling you everything that you could do, but… I have to go fight against the rest of the Rookie Nine, remember?"

"Yeah… hey, Amaya-san?" she asked tentatively, finally doing what I had told her to do earlier.

"Yes? You can just call me Amaya."

"Then, Amaya… Thanks. You're not too bad… but I still don't like you," she told me, giving me a small grin.

I grinned back at her. "Right back at you, Sakura."

"Hijino, Morita, let's go. We'll be fighting against another team in about an hour. Right, Eimon?" I looked to him for conformation.

He nodded and began to escort us back to the apartment. "Next it'll be Team 8- Hinata, Shino and Kiba."

"Hinata… Hyuuga?" I recalled, remembering the light eyed girl who had always stared at Naruto.

She was a sweet girl, really shy, but sweet. She wasn't the strongest person on her team, but she was extremely determined to prove herself to everyone. Especially Naruto. I snorted. She had a crush on the boy- it was obvious to everyone except Naruto himself, not surprising in the least since he was such an idiot.

"Yes. Along with Shino Aburame and Kiba Inuzuka." I froze.

"Kiba Inuzuka… As in the one with Akamaru…?" I asked slowly, already knowing the answer.

"Yes, why?"

_I didn't tell him goodbye… My first friend I had ever had in this village- in fact, the first friend I had ever had in my life… and I didn't tell him goodbye. Does he hate me? Will he even remember me?_ I bit my lip, worried.

"No reason in particular," I lied, moving forward again.

"Okay then… Well, they'll be in the same training grounds as Team 7 was in about forty-eight minutes. Don't be late." Eimon bowed slightly as we stood in front of our apartments and disappeared quickly.

"He doesn't really leave us, so why does he waste his energy doing that?" Hijino asked beside me, frowning at the spot that Eimon had been at a few seconds ago.

"Maybe to give us a sense of privacy," Morita spoke up, heading into his apartment.

"Oh. That makes sense."

I walked into my apartment to prepare myself for the meeting in a little over half an hour. One I wasn't particularly looking forward to.

::~~~~~~~~~~~::

"So what are their abilities?" Hijino asked beside me, munching on an apple.

We had just set out to go to our next fight against the Rookie 9. Hijino had spent most of his time eating and wreaking havoc in his apartment. I had no idea what it looked like now, but I doubted it was anywhere near how clean it was when he first got it. I heard a lot of chirps coming from Morita's apartment and it was pretty easy to guess at what was going on in there. I had just sat at the table in the dining room area, thinking about meeting up with Kiba and fighting against him.

"Um, Hinata Hyuuga is a byakugan user, so she'll aim for chakra points to paralyze you. Hijino, I think it'd be good for you to go against her and work on increasing your speed and your dodging capabilities," I started, trying to remember every single detail I ever heard about the trio. "Kiba Inuzuka uses a lot of abilities that are similar to a canine's and has very good stamina- I think it'd be good for you, Morita, if you went against him to work on yours. Shino Aburame is a bug user- he commands insects of all kinds to fight against his opponents. I'll go against him and work on my ninjutsu."

Morita and Hijino nodded, anticipation surrounding them like a cloak. I was much more nervous than anything else- going up against Shino would prove to be much more of a challenge than when I went up against Sakura. He was level-headed, able to think on his feet and with all those bugs helping him… it would really test my skills. I was a little worried about Hijino and his horrible dodging skills- _with all that speed and the way I met him, you'd think he'd be a little better in that area_, I thought. Morita's stamina also worried me a bit, but I knew we'd be okay as soon as they got a good idea of what their fighting style was.

Soon, we arrived in the clearing. No one stood out in the open, but I could sense the four chakra signatures- Kiba and Akamaru were to the right, Hinata was straight ahead and Shino was to the left. It was the perfect set up for an ambush, leaving the only way out being backwards. As soon as we got to the middle of the clearing, we shot off kunai to our enemies, attempting to lure them out into the clearing.

They did exactly that, and I felt another chakra signature appear- Eimon. He was, once again, leaning against the tree on a branch, watching us.

"Seems like you guys knew where we were, huh?" the playful voice that I had been dreading hearing again came from behind me.

"Of course we did. We did live in the forest, you know. We had to be prepared," Hijino replied to him with a grin, still facing Hinata.

"…" Shino said nothing, and with the sunglasses upon his face I couldn't tell where he was looking.

_Okay, he'll most likely send his insects at me in a few seconds- in fact, he could be doing it now. I should send some of my chakra out of me to make a body cover… and then… probably fire jutsu after I confirm that the person in front of me is, in fact, Shino and not a mass of insects or a shadow clone or something, _I thought, quickly putting my plan into motion. _If this fails, then I should make multiple shadow clones and use a wind jutsu, throwing off his insects and injuring him at the same time. In fact, I should do this even if the first plan succeeds._

I rushed forward, kunai in hand and threw them at him. As predicted, his bugs came up to defend him and the kunai ricocheted off to the left. Not paying any attention to it, I quickly jumped and made a few shadow clones, aiming for different parts of his body as the real me went off to hide in the forest, chakra barrier surrounding my body completely in case there were insects here. I watched as Shino sent a kunai towards one of my shadow clones, who in turn dodged and sent it right back at him. He parried it with another of his kunai as his insects went to attack the shadow clone closest to him. She jumped back, sending a kunai at his knees. He quickly jumped and sent a swarm of insects at my shadow clones. Two of them dodged and one got caught, disappearing on contact. I watched as the shadow clone that was hiding in the tree behind him jumped forward, kunai out and threw it at his arm. It went in and he winced, hand reaching up to hold his injured arm as he took out the kunai.

Some of the insects around him quickly went to his arm, as if they were… healing it, slightly. I frowned and my three shadow clones sent a quick fire jutsu off at him, watching as he jumped into the air. As he began to come down, I gave away my position as I sent a fire jutsu at his back as my other clones quickly went to make a box out of the fire jutsu around him. One aimed above him, two aimed for the sides and I aimed behind him. The only way for him to go was down… where I had laid a trap down, thanks to that kunai he had deflected.

He landed on it quickly and kunai shot out at him through the fire and I heard a grunt as some hit him. Quickly moving to another hiding place, the jutsu dispersed and I saw most of his insects on the ground, dead, while he was bleeding from the four kunai that had managed to hit him- one in his other arm, two in his chest and one in his right shoulder, extremely close to a vital spot. A clone summoned up more shadow clones and I began to pull in chakra. As I did this, I felt a few nudges against my chakra cloak. Looking down I saw a small handful of insects trying to penetrate it. They were poisonous- a low end poison that would paralyze me, but still poisonous. I jumped higher up in the tree, throwing a few shuriken at the insects, killing them. I quickly darted to the right and then lower, knowing that Shino knew where I was when the insects died. Sure enough, I heard a small swarm of insects go to where I was before, then head higher… and to the left, where it would have been a more advantageous position for me to attack Shino.

Grinning, I sent more chakra into my clones as they began to run in circles as fast as they could around Shino, creating a whirlwind effect. As soon as a tunnel of air began to form around Shino, I jumped out and quickly formed hand signs. A full blown smile shined upon my face when Shino looked at me, but it was too late.

"Wind Sickle Tunnel!" I said, watching as the wind became sharp blades and hacked Shino's insects to pieces… and cut him pretty badly, too.

When the attack stopped, Shino was lying face down on the ground, bleeding pretty badly. My shadow clones crowded around him and turned him over, making sure that it was, in fact, the real Shino. It was, as he grunted and whispered something to one of my clones, making her smile slightly at him before they dispersed.

"Good job," I heard him say as the shadow clone returned to me.

"Thanks," I said, walking over to him and pulling out some bandages, winding them around him.

He nodded slightly, sun glasses still in place. I glanced towards Hijino to see him send a quick, long piece of wood out of the ground and into Hinata's stomach. She flew backwards and crashed into a tree, blood trickling down her mouth. Her byakugan was no longer on and she was panting. Hijino was a little beat up himself, though- his left arm was completely useless and he was limping- it seemed as though Hinata had gotten a hold on the chakra going through his right calf… since it seemed completely useless. He was panting, but grinning as he hobbled over to Hinata, helping her up and handing her some bandages, telling her how good she was to last so long against him. She blushed slightly and murmured something I couldn't make out- thanks, most likely, knowing her- and took the bandages.

Morita and Kiba were still fighting, and it was obvious that Morita was slowing down. Kiba was driving him into the forest with relentless attacks- as was Akamaru. I bit my lip worriedly as Morita ended up trapped against a tree. Kiba grinned and Akamaru transformed into… another Kiba. He jumped onto the real Kiba's back and they did their trademark attack.

"Fang Over Fang!" Kiba shouted as he and the other Kiba twirled around each other, forming a long, sharp looking tornado aimed right at Morita.

The attack crushed the tree- and Morita, it seemed- and smashed the bits into the tree behind it… and the tree behind that one. As Kiba and Kiba- who then transformed back into Akamaru- jumped back to survey their work, Morita stood, practically unscathed in front of them. I smiled, noticing a parade of armadillos- _how in the world did they get here?_ – quickly scurry away in the underbrush. Morita charged at the winded Akamaru and Kiba, preforming some very hardcore, quick taijutsu before finishing them off quickly with an earth jutsu, making it so both of them were underground, except for their heads.

"Alright, it's pretty obvious who won here," Eimon said, jumping out of the tree and walking towards us.

He helped Shino up, giving him some basic medical attention, his hands glowing green with chakra for a few moments before turning his attention to Hinata, who blushed in embarrassment as Eimon had her remove her jacket and check for broken ribs. There was nothing but some heavy bruising, and Eimon healed her slightly, making it easier for her to breathe without wincing every time she took a breath. He turned to Hijino, but he was already bouncing in place, ready for another fight. I shook my head at him and grinned. Always quick to get back on his feet, Hijino was. It seemed as though Hinata had never even blocked the pathways for his chakra in the first place with the way he was running around grinning. Kiba and Akamaru were quickly released from the ground and helped up by Morita and Eimon. I walked over to everyone, finally taking in how much they had grown since I had last saw them.

Shino was the same as ever- he had just grown a bit taller, a little more muscular, but that was it. The same jacket, the same sunglasses, the same hairstyle- everything was the same. He wasn't one who was willing to change much, I realized. Hinata had begun to speak up a bit more and was a little more confident with her moves- she was determined as well, most of her shyness and nervousness gone when she began to fight. Her indigo hair was still styled in the same way- framing her face and short in the back. Her lavender, off-white eyes glanced shyly at the ground from the attention Hijino was giving her. It was obvious she saw a bit of Naruto in him, as she started to touch her index fingers together and fidget. She still wore the same grey/lavender jacket and dark blue leggings, wrapped with white gauze and her black sandals.

Slowly, I turned to Kiba, who seemed to be taking me in as much as I was taking him in. His eyes were still the same- playful, warm and wicked. He still had the red marks that went down from his eyes into jagged points towards the middle of his cheeks. He still wore the same grey jacket and dark brown, long shorts that went to his calves. Akamaru was, again, inside of his jacket, sniffing at me from ten feet away. Suddenly, Kiba broke into a smile and Akamaru raced towards me, jumping out as I quickly held my arms out to catch him.

I held him close, his warm, soft fur rubbing against my hands and my face as he yipped happily in my ear. I giggled as he licked my cheek, causing me to smile brightly and give him a light kiss on the tip of his nose. Kiba walked towards me, holding his arms out for a hug. I grinned and walked forward quickly as he pulled me close, wrapping his arms around me.

"I'm kinda pissed that you left without sayin' goodbye, you know?" he said and I stiffened slightly. "But… I'm really glad you're back, Amaya. We missed you."

I glanced up to see him blushing slightly and looking away. It brought a smile on my face to know that he was still the same as when I had left the village- not really one to be touchy-feely, talking about emotions and all that, but one who said what needed to be said.

"Thanks, Kiba. I missed you guys, too," I replied, earning a happy bark from Akamaru and a ruffling of my hair from Kiba.

"Well, next time we fight, don't expect to win, you got me?" he told my team, letting go of me, but still staying relatively close.

"We'll see. You guys haven't seen half of what Morita and I can do- and that's nothing compared to what Amaya can do," Hijino shot back cockily.

I grinned wickedly and set Akamaru down, scratching the top of his head before straightening out. I met the challenge in Kiba's eyes as he stared at me, a grin matching my own rising quickly upon his face.

"We're going to have to spar a few times before the Chuunin exams, Amaya. I'm going to kick your butt," he growled playfully as Akamaru barked in agreement.

"We'll see. I know you inside and out- you're going to have to do some pretty reckless things to even have a chance of beating me."

Kiba glared at me and opened his mouth to say something back but Eimon smoothly cut in, walking back over to me. "Two more teams to go- next is Team 9, Ino-Shika-Cho. Oh, look, that rhymed. I should be a poet."

Eimon walked away, heading back towards the city rapping at the discovery of his newfound talent. "Here it comes! Two more teams to go- next is the combo Ino-Shika-Cho. Be ready in an hour or things'll go really sour. You might want to start plannin' ahead or else your teams gonna be beaten dead."

I shook my head and laughed at his antics. "You're kind of like our team leader, aren't you, Eimon-sensei*" I said, grinning.

"Well… I guess so."

"You didn't rhyme."

"…" I laughed at Eimon's disappointed, hunched over frame as he heaved a large sigh.

"See you later, Amaya!" Kiba called, waving at me as I glanced backwards.

"Yeah, see ya, Kiba!"

My team and I followed Eimon as he attempted to start up rapping again. We laughed the whole way, and I realized that I really, truly liked living in this village. It had easily, within a matter of hours, become my new home.

::~~~~~~~~~~::

_**-Back at a base near Amegakure-**_

A knock sounded at the door and I sat up quickly, wide awake. I had dozed off after a long debate about true art with Sasori- which almost escalated into a real fight before I started laughing about the whole situation, irritating Sasori and throwing him off- on the bed. Sasori was no longer in the room, and a large puppet was gone off of the table he had been working at. Moving to the door, I opened it cautiously and peered out into the darkness.

"What is it, yeah?" I asked, hoping someone was there so I wouldn't sound stupid.

"Do you have any money?" a deep, empty voice quickly replied.

"Um… no… why, yeah?" I asked, confused.

"You're completely useless," the voice responded and I heard a rustle of fabric as the person began to leave.

I frowned and slowly closed the door, scratching the back of my head. _That was weird, _I thought. I returned to the bed and began to doze off again when another knock came at the door. Standing up slowly, wary of what it would be this time, I opened the door.

"Yeah?"

"You're such a useless son of a bitch. Why didn't you give Kakuzu any money? Now that jack ass came and fucking tried to take off my head, you bastard," the person yelled at me, reeking of blood.

"… And who are you, yeah?" I asked.

"You stupid, heartless, dipshit, I'm Hidan. I had to wake your little gay ass up earlier, princess," the person replied, backing me into the room as he walked forward.

The man was tall, and the cloak was completely open as he glared down at me with his violet eyes. He was strong-looking, and his silver hair threw me for a loop, making me wonder how old he was. Pretty old, if his hair was slicked back and he thought it looked good in this day and age. A scythe was strapped to his back. All in all… it was a very intimidating, angry, bloodthirsty Akatsuki member… that had a very foul mouth.

"Itachi took me before I could grab any money or anything, yeah," I started. "And I'm not a princess. I'll blow you up as soon as I get my clay back if you call me that again, yeah."

Hidan smirked at me and laughed. "You'll blow me up? That'll be the first time I've died that way, bitch. Sounds painful. I like it."

I frowned at him, now nervous for a completely different reason. He was a… masochist?

"Before you blow me up, though, I'll make sure I hack your fucking ass up into pieces and then rip out your heart, blondie," he cackled.

"…" I stared at him, completely confused before I laughed.

It seemed as though he was both a masochist and a sadist. As long as it involved pain, blood and torture, Hidan would like it. I snorted and grinned. "I'd like to see you try, yeah."

As abruptly as Hidan had entered, he left, cursing all the while about how dark and damp the place was. I think I even heard something about a "Jashin-sama" or something.

Shrugging, I returned to the bed and quickly fell asleep, not wanting to answer the door anymore for the pointless, menial discussions. I'd put up with enough weirdness the past few days- I didn't need any more.

::~~~~~~~~::

_A/N: Woot, finished the chapter! There was a lot more Deidara in this, as there will be in the future :D And soon, my readers… soon, Amaya and Deidara will meet. Just not too soon. I can't wait, can you? And, as always, please review!_


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